OXFORD Saints’ excellent start to the season was halted as they crashed to a 50-16 defeat at Swindon Storm.

Wins from the first two matches had put Saints top of Southern Conference West Division 2, but they had no answer to their hosts’ powerful running.

The game kicked off in torrential rain, but the home side had a simple game plan, which saw them run the ball with nearly every play, with quarterback Dan Thorne, who finished with three touchdowns, repeatedly gaining ground.

A 78-yard drive was capped off with a touchdown, but the extra point kick was blocked to leave Storm 6-0 in front.

The home side doubled their lead when a pass from Ben Denton was intercepted, leading to a second touchdown.

Saints had fought back from 28-6 down in their previous match to beat Bristol 35-34, but they could not repeat the feat.

Instead they continued to struggle to move the ball and two more interceptions led to another Swindon touchdown.

With the extra point attempt successful, the lead was 19-0 heading into half-time.

The break did nothing to alter the flow of the game, and Storm surged to score twice more to build a commanding 32-0 advantage.

It took until late in the third quarter for Saints to finally get on the board.

Hard running by James Walter capped off a 13-play, 50-yard drive for a touchdown.

A successful two-point conversion from Walter trimmed the deficit to 24 points.

But any hopes the visitors had of staging another comeback were undermined by their defensive problems.

Swindon scored again early in the fourth quarter, going over after just five plays.

Walter struck to claim his second touchdown – and again the two-point conversion came off as tight-end Rich Bloomer caught the pass, making it 38-16.

Although the result was beyond doubt, Storm were in no mood to ease off late on and two more touchdowns saw them reach the 50 point mark.

Oxford’s next clash is against Cornish Sharks at Abingdon RFC on May 17.