WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 40

SALISBURY II 17

WEYMOUTH & Portland head coach Paul Harding was delighted with his side’s first-half display as they put 40 points on Salisbury Seconds at Monmouth Avenue.

The home side led a staggering 38-3 at one point in the league encounter with points coming from all over the park.

Seasiders’ skipper Ryan Lewendon crossed twice and there were also tries for Sean Murphy, Ade Walker, JT Montephe and Dan Bowditch.

Lewendon added four conversions and Bryn Llewellyn also kicked the fifth as the home side cruised to their third league win of the campaign.

Reacting after the contest, Harding said: “Our first-half performance was the best we have played this season.

“We set off at breakneck pace and I think we took them by surprise with our power play, we out scrummaged them and were 14 points to three up after a few minutes.

“They did come back at us and had us penned on our own line for about 10 minutes, but our defence held out and we managed to clear down field.”

He continued: “After the break we capitalised on our advantage and, at one stage, we were 38-3 up, but then we made a few changes, had a player sin-binned for 10 minutes, and that seemed to interrupt our rhythm.

“We made a couple of mistakes and shipped a two tries, however, we finished strongly and thoroughly deserved the victory.”

One minus point for Weymouth & Portland came when flying winger Montephe was carried off the park in the final stage of the game, with what looked like a nasty injury to his left leg.

Next up for the Seasiders is a trip to bottom side Sherborne Seconds on Saturday.