BRIDPORT 24

WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 29

WEYMOUTH & Portland held off a late charge from Bridport to win and move into second place in Dorset & Wilts Two South.

After leading by 12 points midway through the second half, Bridport gave the seaside club a scare but thanks to some strong scrummaging, the visitors were able to hold on to the lead for the victory.

The reverse fixture in December was a walkover after Bridport could not field a complete side, so they were out to show what they could do.

The home side started with great intensity, first in defence and then in attack, as Will Haggerty made a great run.

He was brought down just short of the line, but Bridport’s forwards kept the pressure on, winning a crucial scrum against the head, releasing Ricky Stubbs to wrestle his way over the line for the first score. He was unable to add the conversion.

Weymouth & Portland struck back immediately, catching the hosts offside and earning three points from the penalty.

Haggerty was again in the action as he made a smart interception and galloped over half the pitch to score under the posts. Stubbs kicked the extra two points.

Another good run down the left saw Jason Blackmore agonisingly close to scoring, but again strong scrummaging kept up the pressure on the visitors and Stubbs was able to score his second try, albeit unconverted.

At 17-3, Bridport were looking comfortable but the away side began to go through the gears, a line-out and drive led to a converted try, and then a superb offload from their fly-half resulted in another score.

Three more points came from a penalty kick and suddenly the visitors were 24-17 up at half-time.

The second half suffered from a number of stoppages through injury and, although Bridport enjoyed plenty of possession and territory, they were unable to convert their advantage into points.

It was rather against the run of play that the visitors’ excellent number eight made a decisive break to set up a try in the corner and take their lead to 12 points.

Bridport responded vigorously, and some neat footwork from Bret Chant saw him over the line to reduce the deficit.

Stubbs added the conversion, and, with only five points the difference, the final whistle came too soon for the hosts.

Weymouth captain Kevin Leatham said after the game: “We had a slow start and our pack was lethargic. We defended well for much of the game, but it was a tough win.”