PUDDLETOWN 36

BRIDPORT 8

BRIDPORT were comfortably beaten as they took a depleted squad to their game with Puddletown.

The hosts got off to a strong start which put the pressure on Bridport, who were exposed by Puddletown’s ability to move the ball quickly to their backs.

Bridport did have their moments, most notably with some excellent play by Daragh McLoughlin and some solid runs from Nathan Herbert, who was the main contributor of points for the visitors on the day.

With the supporters freezing on the side-line, Puddletown were turning up the temperature on the pitch.

Puddletown set about the first 20 minutes in a determined fashion with the early pressure, resulting in Sam Pomeroy opening the scoring with a well-taken unconverted try down the left wing.

More could have followed in the opening exchanges, but Bridport had settled and capitalised on some Puddletown handling errors and forced a converted penalty in front of the posts.

With possession and territory mainly with the Villagers another score seem inevitable and blindside flanker Ryan Snook cut through the centres and dived over to score.

Both sides, following injuries, had forced personnel and positional changes.

Puddletown skipper Jez Beale stepped back into comfortable shoes at front row and took advantage of a well-drilled rolling maul from a 10-metre line-out. He spun out of several tackles to score under the posts – the try was converted by Tom Yeatman.

With the score at 17-3 at half-time, the home side stuck to their task straight from the whistle. Sam Cload passed the ball out of the tackle giving Pomeroy a long run in, handing off two would-be tacklers to score his second try under the posts. Yeatman again add the extras.

Bridport were not lying down however, eventually breaking down Puddletown’s resolute defence, they spotted a gap in the centres and the opportunity was taken to score an unconverted try.

The last quarter saw Puddletown extend their lead with two tries, the first from a typical scrum-half jinking run.

The second came after good defensive work on their own line forced Bridport back.

With a perfect box-kick resulting in a turnover, Puddletown regained possession for James House to give the defence a clean pair of heals for the concluding unconverted try, as the score finished 36-8 in favour of the hosts.