DORCHESTER 17

AVONVALE 21

DORCHESTER’S final home game of the season ended in a disappointing and lacklustre 21-17 defeat to Avonvale in their Counties One Tribute Southern South clash at Surcouf Park.

Before kick-off, Dorchester were forced to make some changes, with scrum-half Jack Adams suffering illness.

Cohen Emery moved into the scrum-half role whilst Callum King came off the bench to start at fly-half.

It was safe to say Dorchester missed some of Adams’ probing runs as the hosts struggled in the first 40 minutes.

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After dominating the opening ten minutes, Dorchester were caught napping as the visitors outflanked the home defence from their own 22 for a first converted try.

Dorchester then made the mistake of trying to play too much rugby, and they were caught on the trot as Avonvale picked off an interception and ran in a second converted try for a 14-0 lead.

Dorchester continued to dominate in terms of possession and territory but a stream of sloppy handling errors meant there was no end result until the final few minutes of the half when King managed to muscle his way over under the posts, Jamie Morgan adding the extras for 14-7.

If the home crowd was expecting another second-half comeback, sadly they were to be disappointed as a poor clearance kick fell into the arms of visiting scrum-half Alex Pugh who ran in from 40 metres without having a hand laid on him.

The successful conversion stretched the lead back to 14 points.

Dorchester continued to work hard but the errors persisted, then King spent ten minutes in the sin-bin for a high tackle with the hosts being unable to string any phases together things looked dire.

Finally, following a few minutes of pressure on the Avonvale line, second row Laurence Burch squeezed over in the left corner.

Then, with only a few minutes left of the game, King forced his way over in the same corner, but Morgan was unable to convert either try. This left Dorchester still needing another try to win.

However, the visitors were in no mood to let victory slip through their fingers, looking hungry for the win, and held out with some comfort.

On Saturday, Dorchester head to Yeovil for the last game of the Counties One Tribute Southern South campaign.

Following Saturday’s results, Yeovil now sit in third, two points above the county town side who drop to fifth on points difference behind Combe Down.