HEAD coach Alan Low hopes that Royal Wootton Bassett’s defeat at the hands of county rivals Chippenham last weekend provided some valuable lessons for his up-and-coming players.

Bassett were beaten 32-15 by Chippenham at Ballards Ash and with a raft of regular first-teamers unavailable for selection, Low was forced to field a vastly inexperienced line-up.

The hosts’ personnel crisis deepened even further as second-team skipper Alex Norcross broke his hand but Low nonetheless has his fingers crossed that the Bassett troops that did take to the field against Chippenham will be better for the experience.

“We came off the field disappointed that we’d not won the game and that says a lot when we had 13 players missing through injuries or unavailabilities,” said Low.

“Stepping up a division, we knew that we’d get injuries but they’ve all seemed to mount up at the same time.

“We had three forwards playing in the backs and things like that. We had to bring in a lot of young players.

“A lot of them were getting their first taste of South West One rugby and it’s good that they got the chance to get that experience.

“We were happy with some areas of the game and there were some areas that we weren’t too happy with – it was just one of those situations.”

Sammy Saunders slotted home an early penalty for Chippenham, who were forced to wear Bassett’s red and white reserve strip due to a kit clash, but Chris Patterson powered over the line in the corner, with David Hogg converting.

Chippenham hit back with converted scores from Bradley Doggett and Lewis Saunders, Saunders adding the extras before a penalty from Hogg made it 17-10 at half-time.

In the second period, Chippenham’s Saunders twice crashed over the line to earn his team a bonus point, converting one of those tries, however, after the visitors had Ryan Surry yellow-carded and Bassett capitalised courtesy of a Hogg score.

In the closing stages, there was still time for Chippenham’s Saunders to round things off with a penalty from right in front of the posts.

Meanwhile, Swindon suffered a 21-10 loss at home to Banbury.