Swindon St George had a "bad day at the office" against Oxford Cavaliers at a blustery Greenbridge Road. Not only did St George fail to play to their capabilities, they also lost their captain, Mike Thompson, for the rest of the season through a shoulder injury.

Straight from the kick off Oxford handled the windy conditions better than Swindon. The Cavaliers' short passing game was better suited in the wind than Swindon's more expansive game.

Unforced errors from Swindon handed Oxford a lot of possession, forcing Swindon into defence. Swindon were also being caught offside and hardly had the ball in the first 10mins. Although Swindon's tackling was solid it was unsurprising when Oxford took the lead.

Swindon gained possession after Oxford knocked on from the kick off. Mike Thompson gathered the ball and burst through a couple of tackles to score. James Slatter converted to level the scores.

Swindon came close to taking the lead but Liam Moody was bundled into touch before he could ground the ball.

Swindon were well on top now and a rampaging run from Ben Bridson put St George just 5 metres from Oxford's line. Richard White ran from dummy-half and dived over to score.

Unforced errors, penalties and indiscipline were cost Swindon giving them more defensive work to do. Oxford scored again.

Oxford let the kick off go out forcing them to drop out from behind their posts. Swindon's Mike Keeley made Oxford pay as he barged over to score. James Slatter convert as the lead changed again.

Again indiscipline cost Swindon as the lead changed again when Oxford scored.

Swindon took the lead again the Ben Bridson was put through a gap by Milo Hartley. He raced clear to score out wide.

On Oxford's next attack Swindon lost their captain. Mike Thompson injured his shoulder in a tackle and had to go to hospital. Later the team discovered the injury would keep him out for the rest of the season.

While Swindon were down to 12 men, with Thompson down injured, Oxford regained the lead right on half time.

The 2nd half was not good for Swindon. Oxford had a lot of possession due to Swindon giving away stupid penalties and this cost St George 16 unanswered points as Oxford ran away with the game.

It was not until the final 10 minutes the Swindon showed what they are capable of. The final try of the game was easily the best of the game.

A break from Chris Kent created a gap for Declan Mann who passed the ball back inside to Mike Keeley who scored his 2nd try of the game.

After the game Swindon scrum half Milo Hartley said "We didn't do the simple things well and stupid penalties cost us loads. We'll need to regroup this week so we'll be ready for our trip to Bristol. We'll miss Tommo but if we work well as a team we can get back to winning ways."

Swindon St George travel to play Bristol Sonics on Saturday.