Courtney dismissed as Swindon fall in opener

Grove once again boasted their 6ft 7ins and 6ft 10ins second rows and Swindon had their work cut out to counteract their impact.

The visitors started poorly and fell behind to an early try.

The Grove full-back returned a kick with interest, scything through the Swindon defence to score a superb try from inside his own half.

To their credit, Swindon responded with some excellent play and camped in the Grove half for the next 35 minutes.

Swindon's forwards remained dominant, Andy Prowse taking some superb balls and spoiling many of the opposition throws, with back row colleagues Matt Young and Ian Reynolds also prominent.

Swindon again suffered injuries with Alun Griffiths being taken to hospital after 20 minutes with a three-inch gash to his head, and then Jamie McGregor leaving the field on the half-hour, to be replaced by the evergreen Mark Saunders. Swindon's pressure eventually told when, after recycling a number of phases, they spread the play wide.

Jason Williams eventually set up a ruck a metre from the line, and Andy Barnes drove Young over the line to score in the corner and level the scores at 5-5.

Swindon crossed the Grove line again but Mark Scarrott's try was over-ruled for an earlier offence.

With two minutes of the first half remaining, Swindon had Courtney dismissed for an alleged head butt. He was certainly missed and despite Swindon enjoying territorial advantage in the second half, Grove always held the upper hand with their numerical superiority.

Grove, despite what looked a forward pass, regained the lead with a try in the corner and soon went 15 - 5 up with another try out wide.

Swindon still had their moments, only kept out by solid defensive work, and the home side eventually wrapped up victory with a converted try after Swindon full-back Matt Fitzpatrick found himself stretched.