WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 46

OAKMEADIANS 7

WEYMOUTH & Portland dominated their opening day fixture on their return to Dorset & Wilts One South, having thumped Oakmeadians at Monmouth Avenue.

The home side, who were promoted from Dorset & Wilts Two South last term, took the step up in their stride to deliver a 39-point success and also claim a try bonus point.

And the seaside club’s coach Paul Harding who admitted “there is still a lot to work on” following the game, was happy with how his side performed in several departments.

He told Echosport: “For a first outing it was very pleasing.

“There is still a lot to work on, there are things we need to improve on if we are going to survive at this level but, if we play like that, we won’t to do badly.

“We dominated the scrum. Our scrum was without a doubt a potent weapon.

“The front row of Tim Comben, Andy Bowditch and Ade Walker were dominant. The dominance in the scrum was a big feature, it made sure they were always struggling to get front foot ball.

“Our defence was really good and we did have to defend at times despite the scoreline. We had to defend quite heavily, especially in the second half when they tried to come back to us.”

Joel Wilson scooped a hat-trick of tries among others also touching down throughout the afternoon and Harding was impressed with his centre-partnership alongside captain Ryan Lewendon.

He added: “The centre-partnership of Ryan Lewendon and Joel Wilson was absolutely superb.

“Primarily Ryan was a back, he moved into the forwards because he wanted more ball and he wanted to be more involved but with captaincy comes responsibility.

“He has looked at it and said ‘actually, with the resources we have got elsewhere, maybe this is a good position for me to go to’.

“I thought him and Joel had that defensive aggression – they were so quick and up into the face of the opposition.

Harding also added: “Khylo Farley played scrum-half and he is not normally a scrum-half, he has to step in and I thought he had a competent game. That could have been difficult for us so for him to do as well as he did was pleasing.

“All in all, the back play was very cutting. We broke the gain line well and when we did we really made the most of it.”