Windsor looking to put some gloss on their underwhelming campaign

Windsor have at least three games left, possibly four, to put some gloss on what's been a largely underwhelming South West 1 East campaign.

They've managed to get their best side out on only a handful of occasions this season, but Saturday was one of them, and – off the back of three weeks rest and recuperation – they tore into Trowbridge, beating them 38-24 at Home Park.

It was, by some distance, their best display of the campaign and now captain Chris Emmett is looking for the Royals to round off a challenging year with some more positive displays and results.

They'll have their work cut out to do that, with games against Witney at home, second placed Banbury away and seventh placed Beaconsfield at home, but the team finally has a bit of confidence and consistency of selection, so hopes have been raised.

It certainly looks a lot rosier than it did on Saturday, March 5, when an inexperienced and bedraggled looking Windsor were thumped 80-7 at home by league leaders Oxford Harlequins, having suffered a 64-17 loss to Newbury the week before. And, with a new head coach expected to be announced in the coming weeks and the prospect of the club being switched into a new league following an RFU summer rejig of the non-professional game, things are finally starting to look up again for Windsor.

Captain Emmett said: “We were well beaten by Oxford Harlequins, but look, they're by far the best team in the league and they have a very good coach and university base for their players to train on.

“But on Saturday we had good player availability for the first time in several weeks. We felt fresh, but we also felt a bit knackered playing for the first time in a few weeks and it was 18/19 degrees. It did feel warm, but it was amazing to get back out there, and the conditions suited us well.

“We now have Witney at home, Banbury away, and then Beaconsfield at home. We may have another game to play against Marlborough which was postponed earlier in the season, but the RFU hasn't been that helpful in trying to rearrange games this year so we're not sure if it will go ahead or not.

“Potentially we have four games left but it might just be three as we’re not sure if that game will go ahead or not.”

On the prospect of Windsor playing in a new league next season, Emmett added: “From what we’ve seen from the early plans, and they’re not finalised at all. I think we’ll probably be a bit more London based, and play a few more teams in South West London.

“We'll also play some teams in our local area but won't have as many games in the South West against the likes of Marlborough and Sherborne.

“I think it will be a nice change, to play teams we haven’t really played before. It will be exciting.”

■ Marlow’s disappointing run of form continued as they were beaten 50-17 by Milton Keynes on Saturday, dropping them down to ninth in the Southern Counties North Division.