Swindon St George v Portsmouth Royal Navy Sea Hawks
Swindon St George are the second incarnation of a rugby league team in Swindon, being formed in 2007 after the demise of the Bulldogs. Whilst never being the whipping boys (hello Somerset Vikings!) it is fair to say they have never been real challengers for any success. However, this year they have joined up with the Supermarine club and are using a lot of the Union players. This has meant for the first time they have been in with a chance of winning something.
The rugby league structure in the south changes each season with clubs coming and going as much of their existence is often based on the interest of a sole excited northerner. Because Swindon is fairly central, they regularly get moved between the midland, south east and now the West of England league. However, they seem to have settled in the latter. The league includes teams from Somerset, Bristol, The Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, Oxford, Bath and Hampshire. It is split into two and Swindon won their pool, defeated Bristol Sonics in the semi, so have reached their grand final.
The medals and trophy were unceremoniously dumped in the bar at half time.
The game was being played at Chippenham rugby union club, which is handy as it is next door to a huge farm shop, so I made at least three visits for local cheese.
The Portsmouth Seahawks actually represent the whole of the Navy. This means for big games they can draw on a huge pool of players of a decent standard, for instance, they always do well in the challenge cup. Sure enough, the side bore no resemblance to that seen earlier in the season, and despite a spirited Swindon effort, the Navy triumphed 24-36.
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