BRIDPORT 24

WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 24

BRIDPORT continued their 50th Anniversary season with a tight 24-24 draw which saw Weymouth and Portland draw level with the last kick of the match.

The match, watched by a good sized crowd, was played in an excellent spirit with Weymouth bossing the first half and the Blues coming back strongly in the second half only for Weymouth to snatch a share of the points with the last kick of the game.

From the kick-off, Weymouth were soon in the Blues’ 22 and, after a scrum penalty under the posts, Alex Toms took an early three points.

Bridport then had no answer to Toms’ superb crossfield kick to Khylo Farley who ran in behind the posts for a 10-0 lead.

The Blues got back into the game with Harry Richardson making a break into the 22 and quick ball through the Bridport backs allowed Dave Cutting to go over in the corner, but the try was not converted.

Weymouth replied with a penalty into the corner and from the resulting line-out Billy Hayne drove over for a converted try and 17-5.

The Blues again responded from the kick-off with Weymouth knocking on and from the scrum Mitch Waters made a clean break offloading for Rich Pearce to go over in the corner and Waters converted to take the score to 17-12.

The scoreline remained the same despite an amazing run from Ellis Blackburn from his own 22 to deep into Weymouth territory, which with a knock on at the breakdown closed the first half with the Seahorses in front.

From the start of the second half the Blues started dominating the scrums allowing the backs to make some good breaks putting the Weymouth defence under pressure but they were able to clear their lines.

Finally, after a series of drives into the Weymouth 22, the visitors conceded a penalty close in.

Daragh McLoughlin took a quick tap and the ball went quickly to Ricky Stubbs on the wing who forced his way over with Waters converting to hand Bridport a 19-17 lead.

The Blues continued to press and from a line-out catch from Harry Satur the ball went out to Pearce who went on to score.

However, the Blues conceded a penalty from the kick-off and from the resulting line-out, Joe Gibson marked his return from injury to score near the posts with Toms’ conversion the last kick of the match.

Speaking to Echosport after the game, Seahorses’ coach Simon Litster paid credit to Bridport.

He said: “I would say Bridport were hungrier and they played a better team game than we did. They wanted the win, and it showed.

“It was probably a poisoned chalice going 10-0 up after 10 minutes. We thought it was going to be an easy day, but it wasn’t. I give credit to Bridport, they did very well.”

The Blues are next away to North Dorset on Saturday, September 29, while Weymouth host the Dorset Dockers.