THE FANCIFUL dreams of a return to Twickenham may have been put to bed for another year but Trowbridge head coach Dan Jeffries thinks that his team may be better off for their cup final defeat at the hands of Swanage & Wareham.

Last weekend, the Doric Park side travelled to North Dorset to take on their Southern Counties South rivals in the final of the Dorset and Wilts Senior Cup but were denied a place in the regional stages as they were beaten 25-20.

In 2014, Trowbridge were the pride of their town as they progressed all the way to the home of English rugby and then beat Leek 22-19 to lift the RFU Intermediate Cup While there will be no repeat of that magical day – for now, at least – Jeffries believes that the class of 2016-17 are already showing signs that they’ll use the experience as a springboard.

“It’s a shame that we lost but we had training this week and you could already see that the boys were stepping it up a little bit,” said Jeffries, who took over as head coach in the summer.

“This was the first big game for a lot of our guys and only the second time that Trowbridge have been in a cup final, so it was huge for us.

“We came up against a side that were probably a few years along in their development as a team and had a lot of experience but it’s about how we move forward from here.

“We’ve shown glimpses of what a good side we can be and hopefully, we can take this into our league fixtures.”

Trowbridge are currently fourth in their division and host third-placed Wimborne on Saturday.

Last term, they were relegated from the South West One East division after finishing second from bottom.