DORCHESTER 88

LYTCHETT MINSTER 3

By Tim Beavis

Dorchester were far too fast and strong for a brave but limited Lytchett Minster as the home side scored no less than 14 tries to rack up a mammoth victory.

The visitors kicked off and immediately the scene was set for the rest of the afternoon, Tom Bamlet caught the ball and made good ground before handing on to James Newsam who made thirty metres before he was hauled down.

The ball was quickly recycled and accurate passing saw James Baker score in the corner.

The visitors then lost their hooker, injured in the first scrum of the game.

For the rest of the first half Dorchester were relentless and despite all Lytchett’s efforts to stem the tide tries came at regular intervals.

Callum King, Tom Evans, James Newsam and Dave Clark all added their names to scoreboard.

In a rare visit to the Dorchester twenty two the visitors’ fullback prevented an embarrassing whitewash by kicking a simple penalty goal.

Dorchester added three further tries before the break, as James Newsam completed his brace and George Foot crossed twice.

James Baker converted six of the eight tries as Dorchester passed fifty points.

Unsurprisingly Dorchester seemed to lose focus at the start of the second half and it was fifteen minutes before they extended their lead.

Great credit must be given to Lytchett, who never lost their enthusiasm despite a string of injuries and kept up their great team spirit, regardless of the constant tries being scored.

It was Tom Evans who restarted the Dorchester try scoring before George Foot completed his hat trick.

Josh Hosford, James Baker and Charlie Sharpe then took the try tally to thirteen and there was still time for the veteran Dave Gower to add the final try of the match.

Elsewhere, the county town’s A XV narrowly lost their Dorset & Wiltshire Shield quarter-final match in a hard fought game against Oakmeadians.

Dorchester produced an excellent second half comeback and came close to pulling off a great win but it was not quite enough in the end.

A spirited Gladiators team fell to a strong Weymouth side on Friday night.

Dorchester 1st XV: Underhill, Evans, Bamlet, Harries, Burch, Hosford, Sharpe, Newsam, Clark, Foot, T Gower, C King, Baker, Moss, McKendry.

Subs: L King, Dowell, D Gower.