14th October 2011

WEST DORSET RUGBY: Windy conditions don’t hinder Weymouth

WEYMOUTH 47pts SHERBORNE 2nd 5pts

THERE was a stiff breeze blowing diagonally across the Weymouth pitch that threatened to play ducks and drakes with kicking from hand, tee and with the handling generally.

The home side had the advantage of it in the first half and, although they looked the likelier outfit from the start, they conceded several penalties in the first few minutes that enabled Sherborne to kick their way upfield.

It was Weymouth who took the lead however, after some ten minutes’ play when, having won a penalty, they kicked it to the corner, won the ensuing lineout and executed a front peel through their blind side flanker, Carter, who got in at the corner. To convert from out wide and into the wind was asking a lot and Sheppard’s kick fell short.

The home side continued to have the edge, but they were not protecting the ball quite as they should and the game was half-an-hour old before they made their superiority tell.

The score came from a scrum in midfield and, after flooding their left hand side with backs, they secured possession and went right, leaving Will Quick with a one-on-one situation. He duly rounded his marker and got over in the corner, with Sheppard converting from the widest of angles, although he now had the breeze at his back.

Given the conditions, I felt that they needed a further score before the break, and they got one. A break from Sheppard set up centre Joe Gibson and he ran in from the twenty-two. He touched down close to the posts. Sheppard duly added the extras and Weymouth led 19-0.

Sadly they did not deal with the restart kick. A penalty was conceded. The quick tap was taken and one of the Sherborne pack got over in the corner. I felt that the home side were deserving of their 19-5 interval lead; although nothing was resolved as regards the result.

They would have felt too that their penalty count was rather on the high side and, if they continued to concede in the second half, they would certainly be punished.

Play was evenly contested in the first ten minutes of the second period, although Weymouth continued to look more dangerous than their opponents, ball in hand, and they scored a try when centre Wilson took a pass on the narrow side on halfway. He shrugged off a couple of ineffectual tackles however and ran strongly to touch down halfway out. Sheppard again added the extras with a good kick and daylight had appeared between the sides.

The home side received a set back on the hour when number eight and skipper, Quick, was sent to the bin, the reason for which bemused me. Now a man short and playing into the wind, his side were forced into desperate defence. They came under intense pressure but withstood it, defending stoutly, and eventually put boot to ball and cleared up to halfway and in fact did not concede a score throughout the next ten minutes.

Back to full strength, their eight now began to dominate. It turned possession over at a set scrum on halfway and sent the ball wide. Will Quick took the outside channel and, when checked, offloaded to Gibson and he touched down close to the posts. Sheppard’s conversion kick weaved an inebriated way over and Weymouth were 33-5 ahead.

More was to come however. The home side won possession on their opponents’ twenty-two and centre Wilson cut a good angle to break the defence and touch down by the posts.

Sheppard’s conversion kick was again accurate and, just before the end, a misdirected kick was fielded by Will Quick on his own twenty-two. He set off, showing extreme pace to run all of 75 yards through a tiring Sherborne side, and to touch down by the posts. The try was duly goaled, taking Weymouth out of sight at no side.

Weymouth will look back on this decisive win over the league leaders with some pleasure. The wind did cause difficulties for both sides but their pack had an edge that became more pronounced at the game progressed and Sherborne really had no answer to the strong running and pace of their backs.

WEYMOUTH 2nd 17pts POOLE 12pts

The newly promoted Weymouth second side will have taken great comfort from this win over a side that has played at this level for several seasons.

In fact they started very much the brighter and scored first half unconverted tries through Max Boudoir and Tim Comden to lead 10-0 at the halfway stage.

Les Moon extended their lead after the break with a try that he converted himself and, at 17-0 ahead, Weymouth were in control.

Poole were far from finished however. They had probably been guilty of kicking away possession far too often in the first half but latterly ran at their opponents, ball in hand, and caused problems.

They came back in the late stages of the game with two tries, one of which they converted, and imposed pressure throughout the final quarter.

Weymouth, with lock Mike Robinson, and full back Simon Dean prominent, coped with all that was thrown at them, and Weymouth held on to record the win

In fact Saturday saw a first for the Weymouth club, for all three of their sides won in the league for the first time ever, with their thirds coming out on top at Swanage & Wareham fourths by 19 points to 17.

BLANDFORD 12pts DORCHESTER 23pts

Although winning, Dorchester will not look back at this game with much pleasure. They were at odds with authority early on and the home side took advantage of their loss of focus by crossing the whitewash and kicking the conversion for good measure.

The visitors regained momentum however and evened the scoreline with a well worked try, converted by Bament.

Blandford, playing with the slope in their favour, then scored a second try, unconverted this time and, although Dorchester responded with a penalty goal by Bament, they still trailed 12-10 at the halfway stage.

Having been perhaps a little unfortunate to have been denied a try late in the first half, Dorchester began to play a little better in the second. Some adroit tactical kicking enabled to play much of the 40 minutes in home territory and, although they were far from their best, they did manage to turn pressure into points. In fact they scored 12 points without reply during the half, and claimed the win after a pretty turgid encounter.

The Dorchester second side, also playing at Blandford, certainly played a more expansive game than their firsts, coming out on top against their Blandford counterparts 72-0.

Not such good news for the thirds however. They went down 36-24 at home against Frome thirds.

BRIDPORT 6pts WARMINSTER 15pts

Although starting well enough, Bridport would have ended the day with the feeling of ‘back to square one’ as far as their rebuilding was concerned.

All was well initially. They took the lead through a Ricky Stubbs penalty goal and, although the visitors converted a similar effort, a second Stubbs place kick took them to a 6-3 interval lead.

Tragedy, both personal and collective then struck, with Stubbs, out half and play maker, having to leave the field with a popped collar bone that will certainly see him out of action for several weeks. They were forced to reshuffle and the visitors took full advantage by scoring an unconverted try to take the lead.

Bridport kept plugging away however, with influential skipper, Sullivan making a welcome return from the bench in the later stages. He could not influence the final result however and Warminster ran in a converted try in the final few minutes to take them two scores ahead, and from that position they held on for the win.

Sadly for both player and club, injuries tend to happen. They are never wanted or expected and one just has to soldier on and make the best of things. There is no doubt that Bridport will do that, as will the player concerned.

The Bridport second side seem to be scoring tries, but also conceding a few. It went down narrowly at Oakmedians Thirds by 26 points to 24, with the result in doubt until the final whistle.

WINCANTON 0pts PUDDLETOWN 41pts

Puddletown faced both slope and stiffish breeze in the first half of this Dorset & Wilts League Division Two encounter. They started the brighter however and their early pressure was rewarded with an early penalty goal, kicked by skipper Yeatman.

Their ascendancy continued and, around the end of the first quarter, a move from the base of a set scrummage created space for centre Josh Hiscock. He breached the home defence and touched down for a try that remained unconverted.

Thereafter, until the halfway stage, Wincanton asserted themselves, but the Puddletown defence coped and their eight point advantage remained until the interval.

Now with both wind and slope in their favour, Puddletown stretched away decisively during the second half. Winger James House started the scoring spree when he followed his punt ahead and won the touchdown race.

Then, straight from the restart, lock forward Moise galloped over after good work by Wilson and Spicer. There was now real daylight between the sides, and more tries followed.

Marcus House made it a family affair when he ran in from long range, and this score was followed by a try by Jim Talbot after a good drive by Jeremy Michael-Beale.

The visitors were out of sight now and cemented their bonus point win just before the end when, after a surge by Moise, number eight Spicer got over. Yeatman converted four of the second half tries to complete the scoring, and to take his side to a decisive win.

PREVIEW

One cannot help but question the organisation of the Southern Counties League (South) and the Dorset & Wilts League fixtures.

There are but three rounds of games during September and October, and just two in November. In January however, when weather tends to the inclement, there is a full league programme.

Would it not be more appropriate to play more games in the autumn when conditions are generally better, and to take a break, if a break is to be taken, in January/February when the weather often leads to cancellations and subsequently the necessity to catch up? Still, wiser heads than mine.

The reason for that gentle moan is that there is no league rugby being played on Saturday next as far as the BRIDPORT, DORCHESTER, WEYMOUTH and PUDDLETOWN clubs are concerned.

There are some cup games however, with DORCHESTER entertaining NORTH DORSET in the Dorset & Wilts Vase competition. This will be a tough one for the home side and they will have to be at their best if they are to progress. The Dorchester seconds too will probably find the going tough at Westbury in their second XV cup quarter final.

BRIDPORT have no game at first team level, although their seconds travel to their opposite numbers from Calne in the second XV cup. PUDDLETOWN, for their part, are arranging a club match to give game time to peripheral members of their squad; while the WEYMOUTH club is endeavouring to arrange a friendly game.

Under 10s

WEYMOUTH U10s were defeated in their first game of the season at North Dorset despite a good performance in which they were competitive at the breakdown, and the new look front rowers gained at least parity in the scrum and in some cases winning ball on the opponent’s put-in.

There were solid performances from Loui Balsdon and Ben McDonald who were making their debuts having just starting in the game whilst Luke Poyser was as focused as usual, and William McLaren was involved in many good moves.

Unfortunately Weymouth’s enthusiasm was their undoing during repeated phases of play by being sucked into the breakdown so when the ball came free the hosts broke away and used the space created to score resulting in a 4-0 defeat in the first game.

In the second match Weymouth again started brightly, and this time took the lead with a breakaway try of their own through Robert Hunter.

Although this match was also very tight the same patterns emerged, and the home team ran out 5-1 winners.

Their manager said: “The boys should be proud of their performance; the score lines were a harsh reflection of two closely fought matches.”

The best efforts award went to Ben Martin who has started to think and play like a forward.

Under 13s

Weymouth 7 Swanage & Wareham 48

Straight from the kick-off Weymouth flanker Troy Bocklebank shrugged off the Swans’ fly half and then ran the full length of the pitch to score under the posts.

James Davis converted the try to give Weymouth an unexpected early seven point lead.

Weymouth continued to dominate and with excellent coving tackles from the backs frustrating the Swans, the forwards exerted pressure on the visitors’ defence.

The Swans finally broke through the Weymouth defence by using quick hands to create an overlap and score in the corner, and then scored two more tries to lead 17-7 at the break.

In the second half Weymouth reorganised both their pack and back line, but despite some strong tackling they looked tired and deflated.

Their forward play was pedestrian and lacked the speed, strength and discipline they had shown in the first half.

The back line also lacked the composure it had shown in the first half and the Swans ran in five second half tries without reply for a comfortable win.

Weymouth man of the match was Jack Terry.

PICTURE: WEYMOUTH Veterans rugby team lined up before their recent clash against Poole