WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 59

SALISBURY II 10

WEYMOUTH & Portland overcame a slow start before powering to a 59-10 victory over Salisbury Seconds in their Wadworth 6X Dorset & Wilts One South clash at Monmouth Avenue.

As comfortable as the eventual margin of victory was, the Seahorses struggled initially to warm to the task during their first home fixture of the season.

Weymouth & Portland were ignited by a brilliant piece of work from winger Norton Rogers, who charged down a kick before collecting the ball and sprinting for the first try of the game on 20 minutes.

Reece Makin then registered the hosts’ second try five minutes later before Andy Bowditch drove over from a scrum as the Weymouth forwards dominated.

Alex Toms helped set up the Seahorses’ fourth try of the afternoon as Will Eckersley crossed seconds prior to half-time.

Weymouth and Portland found the going tougher in a stop-start second half but did claim three more tries, the first of which came when the home forwards pushed Salisbury back, allowing Jason Hoskins to score.

Makin and Bowditch added to their tallies, while hooker Karl Sankey made a stunning break to assist another try, offloading to scrum-half Lewis Allan who went over underneath the posts.

Refusing to be whitewashed, Salisbury hit back with two tries, one a beautiful Barbarians-style move involving risky offloads to get on the scoresheet late on.

But Weymouth were able to stamp their authority on the contest with a hat-trick try for Makin after Allan had broken through the Wiltshire side’s line, Toms kicking seven of nine conversion attempts.

Seahorses’ coach Rich Bament was enthused by his side’s display but admitted work still needed to be done.

He said: “It was good after an uncharacteristic first 20 minutes when they tried to force everything and be over eager.

“After the first 20 they got back to what they’re good at and the tries came at regular intervals right through the game, so I’m quite chuffed with them.

“There’s stuff to be worked on with the final 10 minutes, but the forwards made the platform for the whole game. They dominated all the scrums, were good in the line-outs. There’s stuff to work on in the backs but that will come in time.”

Victory backed up the Seahorses’ 28-27 win over Oakmeadians on the opening day.

Bament added: “I’m very happy. I couldn’t have asked for anything more from the guys, to be honest.

“We just need to keep the momentum going – there will be some tougher games.”