FUNGAI Mutepfa paid tribute to two-try hero Dave Cole after the powerhouse No. 8 inspired the Rosehill men to an 18-0 South West One East home victory against Royal Wootton Bassett, writes Richard Ashton.

On a bitterly cold day, the Abbey pack were outstanding as they snapped their six-match winless run to leapfrog their opponents to move up to eighth in the table.

Mutepfa told the Chronicle: “Dave’s a big player. The Director of Rugby spent time with him during the week, telling him what he needed to do and he did a lot. We have a lot of guys who carried well – Chris Shaw, Sam Hallett – and a lot of guys doing well on the floor and in the scrum, so from one to eight we did well.”

A dour opening 20 minutes was dominated by the visitors, but despite their territorial advantage they were unable to put any points on the board.

Things got worse for Abbey, however, when they had second row Treacle Knights and flanker Chris Shaw sin-binned in rapid order, only for a tremendous rear-guard to stop Wootton Bassett crossing the line. Mutepfa admitted: “We had a six-man scrum against eight and after we held out at that point we got lifted, and we played well after that.”

After a dazzling Gavin Dampies break was halted shortly after, it was Abbey who took the lead at the end of a bizarrely-shortened opening period, Cole crashing over from close range on 35 minutes. Referee Simon Aldridge strangely blew for half time after Luke Burns’ conversion attempt failed.

The second stanza was controlled by Abbey, who played the majority of the time in their opponents’ half.

Bassett were reduced to 14 men when full back Dan Rees was yellow carded on 53 minutes, allowing Burns to slot a penalty and extend the lead to 8-0.

Shortly after, a well-worked Abbey move was finished by wing Charlie Gingell, who took an inside ball from Dampies before wriggling over the line.

The hosts never looked in danger of losing from that point, and Cole (pictured) returned from a tactical substitution to barge his way over for a second score and complete the victory – one which Mutepfa admitted was important following five defeats and a draw before Saturday.

He reflected: “I thought the result would come, but in the past few weeks we haven’t done enough to get the win.

“Last week (a 20-16 defeat at Reading) we got immature and ill-disciplined and tried to play too much rugby in our own half, but hopefully this result can turn things round.

“In the second half we played the right areas which is something we haven’t been doing.”

The result takes Abbey seven points clear of the relegation zone, but Mutepfa admitted he had not been looking over his shoulder during his side’s barren run.

He said: “We’ve never really thought about relegation, but not in an arrogant way. When you think like that you become involved in a dogfight week in and week out, and we’re better off trying to just get our rhythm back. In this league anyone can beat anyone on their day, and while the win does take a little bit of pressure off, we’ve got to keep working to get better each week.

“This season has been a challenge. Last year we won the league comfortably and were promoted with five games to go, but this year we’ve had some injuries to key players and we’ve struggled to raise our standard to the level we need. It’s been a learning curve but you can’t dwell on the negatives, you have to get stronger.”

He also highlighted the success of the club’s women’s side – who remain in the hunt for a league and cup double – as a boost for his own team.

He revealed: “We’re trying to take inspiration from what the Nuns are doing, they’re having a fantastic season. They fed off us last season and as long as we keep working hard, hopefully we can take the club to the right place.”

Reading Abbey travel to Swindon on Saturday and Mutepfa concluded: “Hopefully we can build on the win – we’ll certainly travel with a little more positivity.”