BRADFORD ON AVON 26

DORCHESTER 24

DORCHESTER’S involvement in this county competition is over after the first round of the First XV Vase, but in truth this was a game that they could have won.

The county town side won the toss and elected to play up the slope and into the strong wind in the first half.

Knowing that they would have to defend extremely well to give themselves a chance in the second half and, despite the back division being completely changed from the previous week, the away defence held firm for the first 20 minutes.

But Bradford on Avon took the lead when their full-back gathered a stray clearance kick and outpaced the cover to score under the posts.

The conversion was added and Bradford continued to press but, although they came close on several occasions, the home side were unable to break through.

As the first half drew to close, Dorchester put together a sustained period of play, keeping the ball through multiple phases and eventually forcing the hosts to concede a penalty.

The kick went into the corner and, from the resulting lineout, Lee King broke clear and ran through several defenders to score in the corner.

Baker was unable to convert but, with just two minutes left to play in a difficult opening period, Dorchester were only two points adrift of their counterparts.

Dorchester collected the kick-off and set about running the clock down.

Disaster struck however when a speculative pass was intercepted by the Bradford number eight, who had a free run to the posts.

Bradford’s nine-point lead appeared to be nowhere near enough having to face the elements, and this was only emphasised when visiting prop Tom Evans burst through the defence and sprinted 20 metres to the line.

The conversion went wide but Dorchester now trailed by just four points.

At a time to push for the victory, the county town outfit instead allowed the home full-back to again show his pace to score a second try from inside his own half and following this, three defenders failed to deal with an innocuous kick ahead, allowing the home full-back to cross for his hat-trick.

The game now appeared to be lost but Dorchester fought had and their efforts were rewarded with two tries.

Rich Deakin came off his wing to split the defence and touch down under the posts then James Baker found a gap in midfield to cross the whitewash.

Unfortunately for the visitors, their successful conversion was the last kick of the game as they fell two points short.

Dorchester: Cottell, T Evans, Ritchie, L King, Broadbent, A Makepeace, Tucker, Vivian; Bosher, Parker; S King, Fry, Baker, Deakin, Clark. J Underhill, Sharpe, Ansell, Antell.