WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 14

OAKMEADIANS 30

WEYMOUTH & Portland exited the Dorset & Wilts Vase at the quarter-final stage after a late blitz of tries from Oakmeadians condemned them to a 30-14 defeat.

The hosts started confidently after their 17-10 league victory against the same opposition last week.

Coach Simon Litster's men spent the opening 20 minutes in the Oakmeadians half but they failed to capitalise on the territory and a breakout resulted in a try for an away winger against the run of play.

In further symmetry to last week, Oakmeadians missed the conversion to take a 5-0 lead.

Weymouth & Portland immediately pressurised from the restart and after forward pressure Andy Bowditch crossed the line but was unlucky to see the referee unsighted, necessitating a five-metre scrum.

From the set piece the hosts fed their backs for Lewis Richards to enter the line from full-back and score on the right, with Alex Toms converting for a 7-5 lead.

After a 10-minute period of seesaw rugby, with both sides having to make man on man tackles, Norton Rogers used his pace to exploit a rare gap in the Oakmeadians' defence and scored near the posts, with Toms adding the conversion for a 14-5 half-time lead.

Oakmeadians started the second half with more resolve and attacked at every opportunity. On 50 minutes, the visitors scored another try out wide but failed with the conversion to reduce their arrears to 14-10.

But the home side picked up several injuries and had to use all four replacements, the lack of cohesion starting to tell.

Weymouth and Portland began to kick away too much possession, allowing Oakmeadians to counter-attack constantly.

In the final 10 minutes Litster's side seemed to run out of steam and Oakmeadians scored four more quick tries to put the tie beyond doubt.

Speaking after the game, captain Andy Bowditch said: "It was disappointing to lose to a side we had defeated only seven days ago but we simply ran out of steam.

"Next week we hope to welcome back a few players from injury for the local derby against Dorchester and surprise them."

Weymouth & Portland man-of-the-match was Ian Dixon at flanker for his tireless tackling and powerful runs.

n Elsewhere in vase action, the remaining three quarter-finals were all walkovers.

Dorchester, Bridport and Submarine all benefitted from Minety, Lytchett Minster and Bradford-upon-Avon withdrawing.

Dorchester have been given a home tie against Submarine, while Bridport will travel to Oakmeadians.

Both semi-finals are set to be played on Saturday, November 18 at 2pm.