WITH the thunder rumbling overhead, Swindon Storm whipped up a frenzy as they secured a 50-16 win over Oxford Saints.

The South Marston side made it back-to-back wins as they racked up a 19-0 half-time lead, with quarterback Dan Thorne going over the line three times in the game to secure the win.

“Everything went according to plan,” said head coach Steve Bennett.

“We spent a lot of time scouting Oxford and knew they had a lot of experience, so we knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

“We ran an extra two days of training in the build up in the classroom watching video and the boys did exactly what I wanted them to do.

“I set the word execute, I gave them all the tools they needed to win and they needed to execute that on the field.

“Oxford were certainly riding high, which makes the win all the better.”

Swindon have a new offensive line coach and assistant offensive co-ordinator, Iain Shearer, and it appears to have worked as Storm recorded their highest points tally of the campaign.

“Dan Thorne took control of the ball and he grabbed the offense by the scruff of the neck and took them down the field,” Bennett added.

“For me, though, a special mention to the offensive line as their blocking was impeccable on Sunday.

“Shearer has brought in a system called zone blocking, which we have gradually incorporated and that was evident on Sunday.

“The defence was marshalled very well by our second string quarterback, Greg Roscow, who had an encyclopaedic knowledge of Oxford’s plays.

“He communicated to the rest of the team very quickly what Oxford were planning on doing, to the point where we knew what Oxford were doing before they did.”