Marlow head coach Richard Kinsey says he has no idea why his team can’t win on their travels after their latest away defeat on Saturday.

A 30-15 loss to Bicester was their ninth in ten away matches in the Southern Counties North division this season, with their only success on the road coming against Drifters back in December.

It’s a stark contrast with their form at home which sees them hold the joint best record of nine wins and just one defeat at Riverwoods.

Kinsey said: “The away record is not great and the boys have got to have a look at that over the summer and work out what’s going on there.

“We just don’t play well away from home and I have no idea why. It’s an awful lot to do with who’s available away from home. The guys who can play when we’re at home aren’t always the same group of players who are available to go and play away.

“That destabilises the team anyway. You can’t be certain of who’ll be available from one week to the next because they have work commitments and life commitments that mean they can’t necessarily always do it.”

Three injuries contributed to Marlow’s downfall against Bicester, with Dom Crayden, Harry Rodger and Edward Hewett all having to be withdrawn before 15 minutes had been played.

Kinsey believes that Rodger has damaged his ACL meaning the number 8 will miss the remainder of the season, whilst Hewett took a knock to the head and is unlikely to be risked against Drifters on Saturday after suffering a concussion.

Despite the disruption to his team, Kinsey felt his players did their best as they stayed in contention through tries from Matt Saunders and Sean Miller and five points from the boot of Connor McKillop.

“It was a good game and I really enjoyed it. I like Bicester they’re a good group of lads. It was a brilliant game. They got a few tries at the end which flattered the score line, but it was a good game,” he said.

“It was an entertaining game to watch, the boys played really hard and both teams played straight up, hard rugby. It was enjoyable.

“It could have gone either way. With ten minutes to go we gave away a couple of silly penalties that they got some field position and scored from. I’m not disappointed with the way the boys played at all.

“It’s very difficult when you lose stability in the scrum by your entire back row going off. Then you’re left juggling people and we ended up with a hooker playing number 8, the prop going into the back row and bringing another prop on. It was all over the place.”

Marlow will aim to pick up their tenth home win of the season when eighth place Drifters come to Riverwoods.

Kinsey’s team are currently one place above their opponents and hoping to complete a first double of the season after a 24-6 success earlier in the campaign.

The head coach said: “It’s a good opportunity for other lads that are coming up through the squad to get an opportunity to play. There are young players coming up that will have an opportunity to play and I look forward to them playing.

“There will be some nice local rivalry. I enjoy playing in this league because so many of the clubs are on your doorstep. We had a good game down at their place which is good for us and we’ll see what happens.

“It was a very bleak, cold, muddy day down at Drifters when we played them away. Hopefully it will be a nice, warm, sunny, still, dry day in Marlow to encourage some flowing rugby from both teams.”