TROWBRIDGE coach Dan Jeffries admitted injuries and a lack of cardiovascular fitness cost his side points against Chippenham at the weekend, a game the visitors won 23-39.

Jeffries’ troops started the South West One East clash in perfect fashion when intercepting a Chippenham pass to establish an early lead.

They then held onto that lead for the majority of the game, but hopes of becoming the first Trowbridge first team side to defeat Chippenham were dashed when four tries in the concluding 15 minutes secured all five league points for John Brown’s troops.

Jeffries said: “I was really disappointed on Saturday. We were winning the game for 65 minutes and dominated the game in several areas.

“But we ran out of legs a little bit at the end, plus injuries in the wrong place cost us.

“On reflection though, Chippenham spent the second half of last season in the top places in this league. It was a big first test, and going forward the result has proved to me how successful we can be at this standard.

“There was huge disappointment in the camp after the game.

“We felt we were good enough to do it. But in the last 10 minutes Chippenham were really fierce.

“They took advantage of our disorganisation to score four late tries. Prior to that, we controlled the game well.

“This weekend our cardio needs to be that little bit sharper.”

Trowbridge will play in familiar territory this weekend when making the trip to Marlborough – a venue where they last year clinched the Southern Counties South title to earn promotion to step six of the English rugby ladder.

Despite Marlborough being a happy hunting ground for Jeffries’ men, the Trowbridge boss insisted his troops must expect an element of the unknown come kick off.

He said: “Marlborough are one of the teams we know really well, they came up with ourselves.

“We won the league away at Marlborough last year, so we have good memories of the place. The unknown element about Marlborough is you’re completely sure about the strength of the side you’re going to turn up to.

“At their best, they have a lot of strong individuals in their side. We’ve got a strong team, and against Chippenham we managed to start the game well with a try in the opening minutes.

“We dominated set-pieces after, probably more dominant than we’ve been for a long time. That’s something we’ll be looking to continue at Marlborough.

“If we can control the pace and quality of the game while bringing our big players into the game we can hopefully pick up the points we need to.”