SWINDON Storm’s 2016 campaign got off to such a rip-roaring start that they were forced to hand the Jurassic Coast Raptors a stay of extinction.

The Storm got their season off to a flyer on Sunday by dominating Dorset’s Raptors 41-0 at Supermarine, Victor Ofoe leading the charge with three touchdowns, whilst Alex Marshall scored two and Greg Roscow also made it to the end zone.

A punt blocked for a safety, a two-point conversion and a single successful point-after attempt made up the rest of the hosts' total and with them leading 35-0 at the end of the second quarter, the BAFA National League’s new ‘mercy rule’ had to be enforced to allow the Raptors some respite.

But little could rain on head coach Colin Branagh’s parade.

“The mercy rule is a new one in the British league. We were 35-0 up at half-time and it meant that the clock carried on running in the second half, rather than stopping when the ball was dead,” said the Storm chief.

“On the one hand, from a safety point of view, it stops the team that’s being beaten from picking up injuries when they don’t need to, because at the end of the day, we’re all in football for safety, but on the other hand, it means that you don’t get the chance to play your fringe players.

“Everything that we wanted to achieve, we achieved, although I’m a perfectionist and I see things that we could do better, which we’ll work on. We had great support and in some strong wind, we still managed to run the ball and pass the ball, which I’m delighted with.

“The Raptors were a team that had been tipped by a few pundits, so it was very good to get a result like that against them.

“I have to say that I was happy with Alex Marshall, our rookie tight end. He’s someone who came with no experience and there was a lot of debate amongst the coaches over him playing in different positions but I decided to put him at tight end and he did very well. We managed to get both of our quarterbacks involved, too.”

Storm’s next outing in SFC 2 West will be a trip to Torbay Trojans on April 24.

Like the Raptors, the Devon side were also put to the sword last weekend as they were thrashed 38-0 at home by the Bristol Apache.

Branagh added: “Torbay is a long trip but we should hopefully go there with a full squad.

“Their match came under the mercy rule too because they couldn’t handle Bristol and we’re hoping to go there and make sure that they can’t handle us either.”