WITH injuries causing several positional changes, the home side looked out of sorts early on but inside centre Scott Simmons converted a penalty in front of the posts for an early 3-0 lead.

The usual resilient midfield defence of David Finlay, Simon Neck and Simmons constantly thwarted the Swans so it was no surprise that they resorted to kicking for position.

Full-back James Ponsford confidently fielded most kicks and returned several with some powerful running and good clearance kicks but a catastrophic mix-up on one occasion saw a charged-down kick picked up by the visitors' hooker who touched down under the posts. Amazingly the conversion went wide but Swans held a 5-3 lead at half time.

Early in the second half pressure from the home team resulted in a badly sliced clearance that almost fell into the hands of flanker Ben Fox but the chance went begging.

With Ponsford leaving the pitch, Alex Britton entered the fray at flanker with Simmons moving to full back. Britton's contribution was almost immediate when a Swans lineout was overthrown and he gleefully sped through the defence for a try that was converted by Simmons.

The Combined team then switched to a higher gear and following a good run from Neck, the busy Jamie Harris was quick to support and with the quick support of tight head Ewan Lacey and lock Robert Bicknell the four mauled the Swans defence fully 30 metres before the ball was released for Finlay to cut a beautiful line for a further try that Simmons also converted for a healthy 17-5 lead.

However the best was saved for last when Finlay gathered a kick ahead and set off down the right hand side of the pitch. An inside ball to the ever-present Fox saw another superb inside ball to Lacey at full speed who made more ground before setting the ball back for scrum half Johnny Mills to pass out to Finlay who popped a great inside ball for Simmons to slice through the shell-shocked Swans defence.

It was a fitting end to a match that had been well refereed and played in an excellent spirit.