DORSET DOCKERS 36

WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 19

WEYMOUTH & Portland sustained their first defeat of the Wadworth 6X Dorset & Wilts One South season with a 36-19 reverse away to Dorset Dockers.

Rich Bament’s Seahorses had collected respective 28-27 and 59-10 victories over Oakmeadians and Salisbury Seconds, but met Dockers in immovable form.

Last season’s runners-up were organised in defence and attack from the off – a combination which saw them open a 19-0 lead by half-time.

Excellent work from Dockers just inside their own half produced an early turnover from which their electric backs stormed upfield to go over in the corner.

Weymouth & Portland were then caught out by the wind, the visitors believing the ball to be flying out of play before a gust brought it back infield for Dockers to collect and score their second try.

Another mistake from the Seahorses was punished to maximum effect when Dockers made an interception, enabling a simple try which was converted for 19-0.

Fly-half Alex Toms then hit the post from a central penalty, compounding a poor first half for the away side.

In need of a second-half response, the Seahorses duly got one when Lewis Richards flew over the try line.

Dockers immediately hit back from the restart but Andy Bowditch gathered the ball from the five-metre line and drove over to score Weymouth & Portland’s second try.

Errors were proving costly for the Seahorses and Dockers capitalised on the latest error inside the visitors’ half to notch their fifth try.

The gutsy Seahorses stuck at their task and were rewarded when Billy Hayne clung on to an interception to ensure his side outscored Dockers in the second half, albeit with a 36-19 loss.

“It wasn’t a bad game,” Bament told Echosport. “It was very uncharacteristic from what I’ve got to know of them.

“I know it looks like we got thumped but we had four attempts to score in the first

half, just the final pass went astray.

“It was the final pass with the try line begging – if we got those four we’d have been ahead at half-time. It was silly mistakes.

“It was one of those days where things didn’t go right. They went right in patches, but not for the full 80.

“Give them their due (Dockers) were quite abrasive up front, well-organised behind the forwards and backs.”

Bament’s men, who drop to fifth, one place above Dockers, next host bottom side Lytchett at Monmouth Avenue on Saturday.

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