DORCHESTER SECONDS 29 WEYMOUTH SECONDS 11

DORCHESTER and Weymouth finally got to play their eagerly-awaited league clash at the third time of asking.

The rain stayed away for the most part but there was a strong wind to deal with and, for the third time in all competitions this season, it was the county town side that came out on top.

Dorchester started the game with the wind in their faces and knew they would have to work extra hard in the first period.

They had a good start, with both teams showing some attacking intent, and after some good phases, they were awarded a penalty which Rich Bament slotted.

Weymouth came back strongly and a good break and run from their outside centre saw him go clear.

However, left-winger Jake Chislett appeared out of nowhere to make a superb tackle before the Weymouth openside flanker punched someone at a ruck and was sent to the bin, stemming the pressure on the hosts.

Dorchester eventually cleared their lines and set about trying to add to Bament’s score.

After a good line-out, the ball was played through the backs out to full-back Dave Clark and he rounded the last man to score in the corner. Unfortunately for the county town, the difficult conversion was missed.

This should have been the moment for the home side to push on but they struggled to make the right decisions in key areas.

Quite a few times the ball was kicked poorly against the wind and gave possession back to Weymouth.

Eventually, the away side ran one back and found a gap to go over following some poor tackling. Once again the conversion was missed.

The rest of the half was quite even until the closing stages when an infringement gave Weymouth a shot at goal. This time the kick was converted, making the half-time score 8-8.

Dorchester knew they had things to work on in the second half but, with the strong wind against them, they were happy with the scores being level.

Not long into the half another penalty was won in a kickable position and Bament duly obliged.

As in the first half, Dorchester seemed to relax too much and some sloppy play allowed Weymouth to attack.

Some good defence prevented a couple of tries and in the end they had to settle for a three-pointer.

This was the moment Dorchester realised they needed to take a grip of the game and use the wind to play in the right areas.

They did this to good effect and earned themselves another penalty which enabled them to retake the lead at 14-11.

From here the experienced Bament controlled things and he kept probing the corner while using the backs, who were running to good effect.

The home forwards set up a good maul from a line-out and scrum-half Dan Cree peeled off to touch down in the corner.

The tricky conversion looked good but the wind pulled it back onto the post.

Now in control, the home side started to pull further away with their impressive forwards winning plenty of possession and penalties.

When another was awarded in range, Bament stepped up to extend the lead to 22-11 and the scoring did not stop there.

From another line-out, second-row Lee King handed off a defender and made a clean break.

Aided by some good support and hands from skipper Tom Evans, the duo managed to beat the last two defenders and the ball came back to King to dive over. Bament added the extras.

With the bonus point just one try away Dorchester pushed hard. However, a good tackle on Chislett a couple of metres out and a foot in touch by Bament late on meant they were denied.

Dorchester will be very happy with the win and they go back above Weymouth in the table.

Man of the Match: Ed Grassby