Weymouth stand firm despite injury toll (From Dorset Echo)

Weymouth stand firm despite injury toll

8:19am Tuesday 24th January 2012 in Rugby By Ky Capel

SHERBORNE II 17 WEYMOUTH 19

PAUL Harding believes this victory could prove to be the best of the season after his depleted side held on for a slender win at Sherborne Seconds.

Already decimated by injuries and unavailabilities, Weymouth saw four more players join the casualty list during Saturday’s clash.

As a result, the visitors, leading by just two points, were forced to finish the Dorset & Wilts One South encounter with only 14 players.

However, the Dorset & Wilts Plate winners stood firm in the face of adversity to maintain their advantage at the summit.

Weymouth’s head coach said: “It was a real battle and probably one of our best results of the season.

“We had to make mass changes as we were short of a lot of first-team regulars. And to make matters worse we picked up more injuries and had to finish the game with 14 players as we had no one left to bring on.

“Tim Comben jarred his back after about five minutes, Tom Beech went off with a shoulder injury, Stephan Neethling had a problem with his neck and Sam Morris ruptured a muscle on the joint of his thumb. Although Sam carried on for a while he eventually had to go off with 30 minutes to go.

“Everything was set against us and we had to spend a long time defending a slender lead, so given the circumstances it was a big result and could be the result of the season for us.

“We must have had between 15 and 20 players missing but the pleasing thing is that all the players that came up, bar one, train regularly so we were able to maintain our discipline and play the way we usually play. That’s what got us through.”

Nick Sheppard intercepted a pass in his own half before running all the way to open the scoring.

He also added the extras himself only to see the hosts hit back almost immediately and level proceedings.

Back came Weymouth and both Joe Gibson and Joel Wilson crossed the whitewash, with Sheppard successfully dispatching one of the conversions, to put them 12 points in front at the break.

With the wind now in their favour, Sherborne clawed their way back into contention with two tries of their own. But neither was converted and they found themselves two points adrift.

There was still 25 minutes to play and the home side piled on the pressure, but a stout rearguard action kept Sherborne at bay.