WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 60

POOLE 5

WEYMOUTH & Portland head coach Paul Harding was happy for his side to secure second spot in Dorset & Wilts Two South this term.

The Monmouth Avenue outfit, who will now wait to hear a decision on whether they have been promoted, signed off their league campaign in style with a 60-5 victory over Poole on Saturday.

Assessing that display, Harding told Echosport: “We didn’t play brilliantly in the first half but in the second half we played a much more direct game and racked up quite a few points.

“The back row stood out and played very well and, generally speaking, it was a very decent performance.”

The seaside club’s try scorers on the afternoon included the likes of Ryan Lewendon, Khylo Farley, Carl Neal, Joe Gibson.

Giving his thoughts on the campaign as a whole, in which Weymouth & Portland won 19 out of their 22 league games and recorded 94 points in the process, the head coach claimed: “It’s a good return and, the silly game we lost at New Milton aside, the guys have applied themselves really well, have trained well all season and put the effort in.

“Add to that the second team getting promoted – that keeps up my personal record in which every season I have coached the club, at least one side has been promoted.

“It’s been very successful and it looks like we (the first team) will probably go up. There is certainly plenty to build on.”

Harding had also been impressed by the way Tom Drummond, Josh Cameron, Johnny Young and Chris Lewendon have stepped into the first-team squads.

A decision on whether Weymouth & Portland will be promoted is expected next month.