Rugby review: Windsor break their duck with bonus point triumph over London Wild Geese

Windsor have their first win of the Regional 2 Thames season at the fifth time of asking after getting the better of the London Irish Wild Geese 26-17 on Saturday.

After four defeats, Andy Symons’ side had only one point to their name coming into Saturday’s tricky looking away game. But they handled the occasion magnificently to come away with a well-deserved, but much-needed bonus point win.

It’s been a tough start to the season for Symons’ side, who were promoted as one of the best-placed second placed sides in their region last season. They’d already shown they could be competitive at this level, having gone down to some relatively narrow defeats, but this win will do them the world of good as they look ahead to the remainder of the season.

After a relatively slow start, they’ve now put more than 20 points on the board in three consecutive matches, losses to Beaconsfield (29-45), and Harpenden (22-31) at home, before Saturday’s 26-17 win over the Wild Geese.

The result lifts them off the bottom of the table and above Oxford Harlequins 2nds, the team they were promoted alongside last season. They’re now 11th, just a point behind London Wild Geese in 10th, and within touching distance of a host of teams in the lower to middle of the table, including eighth-placed Marlow.

Marlow have two wins to their name so far this season, having swatted aside Oxford Harlequins 53-22 at Riverwoods and Grasshoppers 36-19 away from home.

However, they couldn’t make it three league wins on the spin as Kev O’Byrne’s side were edged out 12-32 in a tough fixture against Old Priorians at Riverwoods on Saturday.

Marlow were very much in the contest as they trailed 12-19 at half-time, but Old Priorians were able to pull away from them for a bonus point win in the second half. The result lifts Old Priorians to sixth, with Marlow now in eighth.

Marlow are next in action at fifth placed Teddington on Saturday while Windsor face a tough home test against unbeaten Brunel University.

Second placed Brunel have won all four of their matches so far and are scoring more points per game than any of their league rivals, including leaders Belsize Park - who have five wins from five.

Brunel have scored more than 50 points in three of their four matches so far, so Windsor will have their work cut out to limit them defensively.