SWINDON St George began their league campaign with a 44-4 defeat to Guildford Giants.

Swindon travelled to Guildford missing key players, and with the hosts having a full strength squad, the game looked a tough prospect for the Dragonslayers.

St George were on the back foot from the kick-off, with Guildford exerting constant pressure for the opening 20 minutes.

However, St George’s defence held out until Guildford opened the scoring with a try on 30 minutes, and the hosts scored again on half time to leave Swindon 12-0 down at the break.

The second half saw Swindon create several chances, and Guildford’s defence was working hard to prevent the away side forcing themselves back into the game.

After 50 minutes, a superb crossfield kick from Neil Greenwood was fielded by Mike Thorpe, who rose above the Guildford defence to score out wide.

Swindon continued to press for another try, but tiredness took its toll.

Guildford took advantage and ran away with the contest in the final quarter, scoring six unanswered tries.

Coach Neil Greenwood said: “With some players missing, we were always going to find this a tough game.

“However, the team played well until we ran out of steam from all our defensive work.”

St George return home for their next fixture and play Southampton on Saturday, May 15 at Greenbridge Road (kick-off 2.30pm).