OA Saints kicked off 2020 with a hard fought 17-10 win against a physical Supermarine side.

Herts Advertiser: OA Saints battled to a hard-fought win over Supermarine.OA Saints battled to a hard-fought win over Supermarine. (Image: Archant)

The victory in Swindon means they stay third in the Women's Championship South table.

The game started with the hosts controlling territory and building long periods of possession in the OAs' half.

But after defending with extreme physicality for 25 minutes, Saints were able to engineer a breakaway try scored by Caz Bolton, converted by Caz Collie.

But after the game had snapped back to a similar pattern, Supermarine enjoying the majority of possession, Saints bagged a second try with a quick counter-attack, Beth Saunders diving over for this one.

The pressure from the home side eventually told with a converted try utilising the power of the forwards but after a strong break from Mica Gooding, Claire McKenna scored in the corner.

A penalty late on gave Marine a losing bonus point but they couldn't overhaul the lead.