POOLE 14 WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 38

JOE Gibson gave an “outstanding” individual performance as his Weymouth & Portland side clinched a bonus-point triumph against Poole.

The visitors got their Dorset & Wilts Two South season off to the ideal start and Gibson’s two-try display had coach Paul Harding purring.

Weymouth & Portland took a commanding lead into the break and although the hosts fought back, the away team pulled clear again late in the second period.

“It wasn’t our best performance by any stretch of the imagination, but the players stepped up and I couldn’t fault their effort and endeavour,” said Harding, who went into the game with a shortage of front row players.

“We got as much out of the game as we could have hoped for with the bonus point, and we were missing some of our key players up front.

“We went 12-0 up with a couple of cracking tries but also squandered two really good chances, which if we’d scored would have killed the game off.

“Poole managed to get a foothold in the game after that using their bigger forwards and we had to defend a lot.

“Poole had the edge up front but when we move the ball out wide we were the better side.

“We scored another try just before half-time to lead 19-0 but Joel Wilson had to go off the field temporarily with a knee injury.”

He went on to add: “They got it back to 24-14 in the second half and put pressure on our line after that.

“We had to defend really hard and Joe Gibson was outstanding.

“He was our man of the match and made a couple of crucial tackles in the back row.

“He was an inspiration and that’s the best I’ve seen him play for two or three years.”

As well as Gibson and Wilson, Bryn Llewellyn was also on the scoresheet with two tries and several kicks.