PUDDLETOWN 24 SALISBURY SECONDS 17

JEZ Michael-Beale crossed twice and Audie Jones scored the match-clinching try for the Villagers in a superb Dorset & Wilts Two South bonus-point win over Salisbury Seconds.

Two evenly-matched sides looked to play open, attractive rugby from the off and Puddle-town crossed the whitewash first.

Scrum-half Lucas Frizzle made a break and offloaded to second row Dave Phillips, he passed to Sam Stockley on the wing, and the speedster showed the visitors a clean pair of heels to run in from his own half.

Puddletown continued to apply pressure and forced a line-out on the Salisbury 22. The Villagers peeled off the back of the set-piece and centre Michael-Beale crashed through, only to be stopped two metres short of the line.

The forwards were on hand to recycle the ball, flanker Tim Yeatman popped it to Michael-Beale, and this time he made the line to score. Tom Yeatman converted to make it 12-0.

The heavier Salisbury pack began to exert some pressure of their own in midfield, winning a series of mauls and rucks.

Puddletown full-back Ben Spinney allowed a chip over the top by the Salisbury fly-half to bounce and the visiting winger gathered the ball to score unopposed under the posts.

However, the hosts pushed back up the hill from the kick-off and they scored the try of the match through Michael-Beale.

Backs and forwards interlinked, Michael-Beale broke through and fed flanker Jones.

He passed to captain Yeatman, who then offloaded to his brother Tim, and once again Michael-Beale was on hand to receive the final pass and burst through the Salisbury defence.

Yeatman converted to make it 19-7.

Just before half-time, Salisbury had a good passage of play that resulted in an attacking scrum on the Puddletown five-metre line.

Salisbury won the ball and drove over for the number-eight to score a pushover try. That made it 19-12 at half-time.

Puddletown lost their urgency at the beginning of the second half and Salisbury capitalised, securing the ball in the loose and making ground into Puddletown territory.

A maul in midfield resulted in the Salisbury left wing running in from 30 metres to score, closing the gap to 19-17.

The Wiltshire side then had the opportunity to take the lead for the first time in the game when the Villagers were penalised at a ruck.

But the penalty was stroked to the left of the posts and Puddletown cleared their lines from the 22 drop out.

Replacement number-eight Jumbo Perrett then picked up possession and drove into the Salisbury backline.

Perrett offloaded to Jones who showed good pace and power to cross the whitewash. The try went unconverted which meant Salisbury came away with a losing bonus point.