WEYMOUTH 6 FROME II 7

WEYMOUTH kissed goodbye to any remaining hope of winning the Dorset & Wilts One South title courtesy of a narrow defeat at home to Frome Seconds.

The Seasiders enjoyed enough possession, particularly in the first half, to have had the game sewn up at the interval, but they failed to break down a committed visiting defence and only managed to score a pair of penalties via full-back Dave Allan.

Frome rarely ventured inside home territory, but when they did get a sniff of the Seasiders’ line in the 38th minute they converted their chance with fly-half Charlie Corlett touching down and scrum-half Chris Bulger adding the extras to give them a 7-6 lead at the break.

The second period was almost a carbon copy of the first with Weymouth now finding difficulty in breaking out of defence.

And with tempers rising it came as little surprise when both packs traded punches and referee Tim Wynn had no other option but to issue a warning to both skippers with the next affray set to result in red cards being displayed.

The Seasiders escaped with a let off when a Frome back gathered up a loose ball directly beneath the home posts and shipped it out only for the recipient to knock on with the try-line beckoning.

Weymouth rallied late on and, following a line-out, won a penalty just five metres shy of the Frome line.

The hosts elected to whip the ball out to prop Tim Comben who, despite a shove from most of the Seasiders’ forwards, was shunted into touch before Mr Wynn signalled both the end of the contest and Weymouth’s title bid.