WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 13

WIMBORNE SECONDS 3

WEYMOUTH & Portland ended their year on a high with a gritty, well-fought 13-3 victory at home to Wimborne Seconds in Wadworth 6x Dorset & Wilts One South.

The Seahorses are now without a game until the new year, and the win means they will drop no lower than fifth prior to the end of the calendar year.

The hosts had an unexpected disadvantage in the first half, when the wind veered round to face them shortly after kick-off.

Weymouth hung in there against the elements but were able to deal with what their opponents had to offer.

The Seahorses were clever however, driving up the middle through the phases and were able to consistently threaten and can count themselves unfortunate they did not drive over the line.

They did however, take the lead through an Alex Toms’ penalty after 30 minutes.

Five minutes later, Norton Rogers had to be taken off with a head injury, prompting a yellow card for the Wimborne number eight.

At the end of the first half, Wimborne scored a simple penalty from in front of the posts to equalise.

However, the second half was a different story.

With the wind to their advantage, the Seahorses were clever, utilising wind-assisted kicks to gain territory quickly and effectively.

Chris Norton and Lewis Richards had superb games, consistently claiming line-outs to aid the attack.

Luke Beynon pounced upon a mistake, fed Khylo Farley who ran over with Toms missing the conversion.

Man of the match Lewis Allan then chipped the ball over the defence and Rory Legg utilised his pace to get on the end of the ball to run in Weymouth’s second try.

The game was then run down inside Weymouth’s half, and the Seahorses were more than equal to the challenge.

The final score saw Weymouth earn a 13-3 victory with coach Simon Litster full of praise for his side.

Litster told Echosport: “You guys said into the run up to the game we were hoping for a good Christmas present and they delivered it.

“It is a happy camp, I think it boils down to the team finally clicking and playing for 80 minutes.

“Every player played well.

“Not one single poor performance.”

Weymouth & Portland: Comben, B Hayne, Bowditch, Norton, Latham, Richards, D Hayne, Oaksford, Allan, Toms, White, Legg, Beynon, Rogers, Robinson. Reps: Tibble, Hoskins, Farley, Guest, Avant.

Man of the Match: Lewis Allan