FROME 20 DORCHESTER 13

A POOR first quarter ultimately cost Dorchester the chance of a third consecutive win, but an excellent finish did salvage a losing bonus point for the county town club.

Given first use of the wind and slope, Dorchester failed to take advantage of the conditions and they went behind when Frome’s outside centre was allowed to run from his own half to score the opening try.

Late withdrawals meant that Lee Harvey, who had played in the second row the previous week, had to fill in at outside half.

Consequently, Dorchester’s backs looked somewhat disorganised, with passes going astray and their defensive alignment not as it should have been.

A yellow card for Harvey gave Frome the chance to score their second try, though Dorchester hit back with a James Baker penalty.

More sloppy play from the visitors allowed the restart to roll into touch right in the corner and, although they won the line-out, they were unable to clear and the Frome number eight drove over.

A second Baker penalty left the score at 15-6 at half-time.

Stern words from the coaching staff during the interval seemed to do the trick and Dorchester’s defence looked a lot more solid in the second period.

Despite conceding a fourth try, the visitors had the better of the half, putting the Frome scrum under immense pressure and getting the ball wide a lot quicker than they had been.

Wingers Baker and Jamie Morgan made big inroads into the Frome defence and, with 10 minutes to go, Dorchester finally got their reward.

Baker finished off a concerted attack in the left-hand corner and then converted his own try to close the gap to just seven points.

Both sides had chances to score in the closing stages but Frome missed two kickable penalties and Dorchester just failed with a catch and drive.

Dorchester: Cottell, Chalker, Hodgson, Makepeace, Dixon, S Jones, E Grassby, Newsam, Allan, Harvey, Baker, Waddington, R Grassby, Morgan, Spensley. Reps used: Warren, Deakin, Clark