SWINDON College Old Boys director of rugby Martin Lloyd hopes that his players have got more than enough laurel-resting under their belts and are primed to pick up where they left off on their return to action this weekend.

Before the festive break, College had dominated the Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier, winning 10 games from 10, and on Saturday, they travel to Abingdon for the first assignment since their thumping 82-7 victory over Slough on December 17.

Matt Allen, who is expected to miss one more game with a knee problem, is College’s only injury doubt ahead of their trip to Lambrick Way and Lloyd is keen to see his troops get back in the swing of things straight away. “I think every club in the country will be feeling the same way. Traditionally, there’s always a bit of festive spirit to burn off when you come back,” he said.

“It’s been a long break but we carried on training once a week – having really hard sessions – and then we said to the players that it was their responsibility to look after their fitness.

“You’re always likely to get a bit of slacking over Christmas but from what I’ve seen, the players are looking good and we had a really tough full-contact session on Tuesday night.

“We’ve really been banging the drum that the second half of the season would be really important and that we’re starting from scratch.

“You get out what you put in and if you’re arrogant, that’s when things start to fall apart.

“It’s all about our attitude and our hard work, and if we keep the same attitude that we’ve had, then we’ll be able to have a good second half of the season.”

College beat Abingdon, who are currently seventh in the table, 34-9 at Pipers Way in their first game of the season last September but Lloyd isn’t expecting a straightforward afternoon in Oxfordshire.

The College chief added: “Abingdon are a good side. They’ll compete for everything and they won’t give anything up easily.

“They’re well-organised and we expect a strong set-piece from them.

“They’re also a good rucking side and they play a game based around the forwards, but we’ve got to concentrate on looking after the ball and doing what we do well.”

Elsewhere, Supermarine face a daunting task in their first game back this weekend as they host Dorset & Wilts One North leaders Corsham.

Nigel Hire’s side are currently second-from-bottom in their division.