ROYAL WOTTON BASSETT II 12 DORCHESTER II 0

THE Dorset & Wilts Seconds XV Shield returned to Wiltshire after Royal Wootton Bassett got the better of Dorchester in the final of the competition for the second year running.

The county town outfit, playing against the wind in the first half at Trowbridge RFC, started slowly and this proved to be key to the match as a whole.

Wotton Bassett had a strong centre pairing and they looked to attack through this avenue as often as possible early on.

The county town men missed some tackles and soon found themselves conceding the first try. The conversion from out wide went over and Tom Evans’ side trailed 7-0.

Knowing their tackling was the area of the game they had to address, Dorchester knuckled down and tried to find a way back into the final.

Their scrum and line-out worked well and they used these as a platform, but try as they might, they couldn’t get over the line.

A couple of times some big driving mauls were stopped just short, while with the opposition centres still playing well, they had to be aware of the threat Wootton Bassett posed.

One break nearly led to another try but some great Dorchester defence kept them out.

With the half drawing to a close, Wootton Bassett were awarded a penalty in a kickable position but chose to go for the scrum.

Dorchester continued their forward dominance and turned the ball over to clear their lines and went into the break a converted try behind.

When the second half got under way, Dorchester knew they needed to find a cutting edge in attack if they were going to win.

But despite constantly getting some good platforms they still couldn’t find a way to unlock the opposition defence.

In pursuit, they turned down a kickable penalty but couldn’t make use of the good ball.

With no try coming and some more questionable decisions from the officials, Dorchester started to get frustrated and the equalising score seemed to drift further away.

While trying to push, Wootton made a break and scored their second try to seal the victory.

With just pride to play for, the Dorset side spent the last few minutes on the attack but no consolation arrived.

Despite losing the final for the second year running, team manager Tom Gower was pleased and very proud with his side’s effort in this game and throughout the whole season.

He said: “A lot of youngsters have come on a long way and will be looking to go that one step further next time.”

Dorchester: Evans, Pengelly, Ritchie, McQuillan, Broadbent, Gower, Sharpe, Tucker, Smith, Cree, Waddington, Harvey, Deakin, King, Read. Reps used: Underhill, Skidmore, Cheeseman, Dixon, Vivian, Simpson, Chislett.

Man of the Match: Toby Waddington