His 17 points, to take his seasons haul to 213, however, were enough to break the clubs individual points scoring record for a season previously held by another club fly half, Spike Chandler, and ensure, at least, a bonus point.

It was cold comfort for Swadling and the rest of the team who, for a second week running, were beaten by a better side on the day to finally wipe away all thoughts of promotion while dropping to fifth spot on points difference behind their hosts with five games left to play.

He said afterwards: “It doesn’t really matter about personal achievement but it’s my first full season and it’s nice to have. But, next season, all we want is to get into that top two.

“Today was very disappointing and there were no excuses really. Our tackling let us down and our fringe defence - normally both really good - but they seemed to have a lot of joy themselves at them and made it very difficult for us. They kept it tight and we really couldn’t get our hands on the ball.”

Rams, in fact, couldn’t have made a worse start losing a scrum and conceding a try in the second minute when home centres James Hannaford and Kevin Dennis combined to send in flanker Jason Keenan.
It went unconverted but, just seven minutes later, Dennis made amends potting over a penalty when Rams were penalised for handling in a ruck, 8-0 and it was a similar offence that allowed lively Rams to open their account soon after and for Swadling to pop over the first of four penalties in a 13 minute spell.

His second, four minutes later, came when the home side was done for not rolling away at the tackle while, five minutes later, he banged over number three when Newton Abbot went offside at a ruck to put his side ahead for the first time, 8-9.

His fourth, four minutes later made it, 8-12, and Rams looked to be about to cut lose only for the home side to eventually snatch the lead back on 38 minutes, 13-12, courtesy of prop Alex Gale’s try.

A lead they held for three short minutes before Swadling banged over his fifth spot-kick of the half to restore Rams lead, 13-15.

But it was the home side who finished the half ahead after, suddenly, breaking into the Rams 22 following the restart and, from a driven penalty, flanker Peter Mortimore buried his way over for the touchdown and converted by Dennis for a 20-15 lead to end the half and the `All Whites’ continued their pressure after the break with a penalty attempt bouncing off the crossbar and back into play before Rams were put under further pressure when they were reduced to 14 men when No.8 Ollie Randall was yellow carded at a ruck.

Almost immediately the home side took advantage and, from a line-out, prop Alex Gale drove over for his second try which again went unconverted, 25-15.

Rams very nearly hit back when wing Matt Grindle sprinted over in the left-hand corner, from a good 30 metres out, only to have his touchdown denied by the home touch-judge who deemed he had put his foot into touch diving for the line.

And Rams were unlucky as the half went into injury time when, following a period of concerted pressure on the home line, replacement Ross Crame’s pass to wing Josh Smith, with the line at his mercy, was adjudged forward by referee Ryan Swift.

But as they maintained their presence close to the home line and applied the pressure at a series of reset scrums the referee finally lost his patience with the home side and awarded Rams a penalty try which Swadling converted with ease.

As skipper Owen Root summed up: It’s the first time I’ve seen some of our defence not shrugging off tackles but not stopping them at source. We reacted well in the second half and exerted fine pressure but you can’t give away mistakes from penalties like that and expect to get back into a game.”

Rams: Simon Swadling; Matthew Grindle, Steve Bryant, Nigel Gumbleton, Josh Smith; Guy Swadling, Will Clark; Chris Rowland, Russell Hodges, James Baker; Owen Root, Connor Stapley; Andrew Amor, Chris Emmett, Ollie Randall. Reps - Ross Crame, Ian Jefferys, Rudal Aiono (all used).

Report by Steve Williams