WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 29

DORCHESTER 5

THERE was derby joy for Weymouth & Portland as they got their revenge on rivals Dorchester in the Ridgeway Rumble, sealing a convincing victory for the club in Dorset & Wilts One South.

The Seasiders avenged their earlier defeat at Coburg Road back in December with a performance that had their supporters celebrating on the touchline after the referee blew the final whistle.

From the kick off, it seemed that Weymouth & Portland had an advantage in the forwards in both set and loose play. The Seasiders’ front row dominated frequently to claim opposition ball.

A couple of scoring chances went begging for the home side early on but it was in the 18th minute when young James Davis, who stepped up to feature at scrum-half on the afternoon, was put clear to sprint in for a try to open his first-team account for the club.

Skipper Ryan Lewendon added the conversion to get the Seasiders’ off to a solid start.

Three minutes before the break, a quickly taken penalty then resulted in lock Andy Bowditch driving over from close in to put his side well in the ascendancy at the break.

And just five minutes later, Bowditch was at it again.

He crossed for his second of the afternoon with captain Lewendon again slotting the resulting conversion.

On the hour mark, Dorchester strayed offside and Lewendon punished them with a penalty to make the score 22-0 in the hosts’ favour, before the county town side got themselves on the scoreboard.

A consolation try was ran in by Dorchester second row Laurence Burch, scoring his first try for the club’s first XV to record his side’s only points of the afternoon.

With Weymouth now down to 14 players after a home forward was sinbinned for a high tackle, Lewendon broke clear from a ruck to touchdown for another try and then land the conversion himself, capping a monumental victory for the Seasiders to ensure it was party time at Monmouth Avenue.

Weymouth & Portland coach, Paul Harding, said: “It was very much a team performance, the lads were hurting after the result at Dorchester and had something to prove to themselves and their supporters.

“When we went down to 14 it made little difference as they all stepped up to the plate and raised their game by five per cent to make up the shortfall. This was definitely our best league performance of the season.”

Harding added: “Tries win games, but so do tackles and our full-back Chris Lewendon made two try-saving tackles, one in each half that could have cost us a total of 14 points and the eventual result.

“That goes to prove that defending is as every bit as important as attacking.”

Reacting to the defeat, Dorchester coach Ben Parker said: “A disappointing result for us against a very good Weymouth side. We struggled again to gel, with new faces replacing key players.

“However, we know we will end the season fourth in the league and that is a good achievement given where the team were in November, when Rich Bament and myself came in as a new coaching partnership.

“We have a lot of work to do over the summer and pre-season with recruitment, fitness, skills and team building, if the club are to push for promotion.

“The players are determined to push for top place in the league, and need to step up to win it.

“Our new focus now starts from a squad meeting on Tuesday and being fully prepared for next season.

“We have one final league game against Swanage & Wareham on April 22, and we aim to finish the season with a win.”