SWANAGE & WAREHAM 79

PUDDLETOWN 10

PUDDLETOWN were swatted aside by a brilliant performance from Swanage & Wareham, who ransacked the Villagers for a 79-10 victory in Dorset & Wilts One South.

This fixture was always going to be a difficult one for the Villagers, with the two sides being at opposite ends of the table and it was only a few months ago that they were two divisions apart.

On a glorious afternoon at Bestwall, there was a large crowd for this fixture, with the two teams coming together at this level for the first time in many years.

It was the home side that dominated the opening period, scoring an unconverted try within seven minutes.

From the restart the Swans’ openside was tackled on his own 10-metre line and failed to release the ball.

James Elwood neatly slotted the resulting penalty to make it 5-3 but this would be the last time in the game that Puddletown were in touch with the home side.

The next 20 minutes were one-way traffic, with Swanage scoring seven unanswered tries.

The men in red did not give up and continued to battle hard and did not let their heads drop, but they could not compete at the same level as the home side.

The Puddletown defence worked hard and Swans didn’t score in the last 10 minutes of the first half which ended with the home side 50-3 up.

After the break, the home side continued their dominance, but it was not the try fest that had occurred in the first half, with Puddletown competing better across the park and defending their line with vigour.

However, the pace and power of the Swanage back line made it inevitable that they would add more points to the board.

Halfway through the second period, with the score at 67-3, the Puddletown fly-half Elwood made an interception in his own 22 and ran the length of the pitch to touch down next to the posts, before he converted his own try to give the him and the visitors 10 points.

Swanage responded with two more tries before the end of the game to make the final score 79-10.

Despite the scoreline, Puddletown played well against a Swanage side.

There was some notable individual performances, Elwood scoring all Puddletown’s points, Tom Yeatman once again making some try-saving tackles and the Puddletown man of the match Chris Haynes leading the way in defence and attack.

Puddletown host Weymouth & Portland on Saturday.

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