SWINDON St George picked up their first victory of the new season with dominant 42-16 success at home to Somerset Vikings in the West of England Premier League.

The two sides were closely matched in the early stages but Swindon showed their class in the second half at Supermarine, running in eight tries in all.

Fijian Bruce Vuetanatotoka and Ashley Perry led the charge with two scores apiece while Richard White, Connor Tomley, Arran Watkins and Gwyn Jenkins also all got themselves over the whitewash.

St George team manager Jakob Kauusberg was delighted with the result, especially after his side had fallen to a 58-24 defeat away at early pace-setters Bath & Wiltshire Romans in their season opener.

Kauusberg said: “It was a really good performance from the whole team and it’s great to get a win so early in the season.

“We thought, going into it, it was a game we were capable of winning, but it was a bit tight in the first half and at half-time, it was still only 10-10.

“We’ve done some great work before the season, though, and our fitness told in the second half and we were quite convincing winners by the end.

“Declan Labrosse had a really good game. It’s his first season with us but the Vikings voted him as our man of the match, so we were all really pleased.”

St George have one win from their two league games so far but take a break from that programme on Saturday as they turn their attention to cup commitments.

They entertain a Cheltenham Phoenix side who were handed a 50-18 drubbing at home by Bath & Wiltshire Romans in their first outing of the season at the weekend.

Having enjoyed the sweet taste of victory last time out, Kauusberg is keen for St George to keep that run going for as long as possible.

“We have got a cup game next against Cheltenham and we’ve got to look to take this little bit of momentum into that game and try to pick up another win,” said Kauusberg.

“We’ve both played Bath already this season and both got beat by them, so we might be quite evenly-matched.”