Rugby: Century up for ace Rich despite Seasiders' defeat to Wimborne Seconds

WIMBORNE II 40

ON HIS return to the Seasiders’ senior XV, veteran lock forward Richard Polley tallied up the 100th first-team try of his career.

But unfortunately for him, it was in a defeat to one of the Dorset & Wilts One high fliers in Wimborne Seconds at Monmouth Avenue.

A poor first half for Weymouth & Portland saw them trail by 27-8 at the break, mostly due to some suicidal handling.

However, following some interval instruction from head coach Paul Harding, they produced a far improved second-half display and finished the game on the attack.

Bryn Llewellyn opened the scoring for Weymouth & Portland after kicking a penalty with Carl Neal following up to score a try, but the visitors crossed the home line to score four tries and added two conversions and a penalty.

After the turnaround, Wimborne landed a second penalty then, on the hour, Seasiders’ prop Andy Bowditch saw red, leaving his side to see out the final 20 minutes with just 14 men.

The visitors made best use of their man advantage and grabbed two more touchdowns before Polley’s try brought the proceedings to an end.

Head coach Harding said: “We gifted them four tries, three in the first half and another near to the end of the game.

“You just can’t do that and expect to win, but we improved in the second half despite being a man down.

“Our young scrum-half Ben Melhuish had a magnificent game on his return to the club and it’s great to have him back and Dan Bowditch also put in a shift for the team.”