WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 0

BRIDPORT 36

WEYMOUTH & Portland coach Simon Litster was left to rue poor tackling after a ‘very painful’ defeat to Bridport in a Dorset & Wilts One derby.

Litster said: “Bridport were good, they were better than I thought they would be.

“We went to pieces in the second half and they scored four tries.

“I don’t think there were a lot of bright spots, to be honest, we did okay, we tidied up some of the problems from the week before – our line-outs were a lot better, our scrum was pretty solid.”

Due to injuries, the Weymouth side ended up having to use their entire bench over the course of the match.

The Seahorses were first into the opposition’s 22 and only a great last-ditch tackle by Freddie Woolner prevented a score.

The Blues were able to clear their lines and from a scrum were able to get into the Weymouth 22 but good defence gave the hosts a turnover and they cleared their lines.

Another penalty for a high tackle in the 22 was quickly taken by Daragh Mcoughlin who was held up just short and Mike Pibworth was on hand to pick up and drive over for the first score, converted by Woolner for the visitors.

Bridport attacked through the backs into the 22 gaining a penalty which Woolner converted to take his side into a 10-0 lead.

Weymouth missed a penalty and were unable to convert late pressure as they ended the half 10-0 down.

With a strong wind behind the away side, an early line-out on halfway saw a catch-and-drive move and, with the forwards driving the maul forward, Dave Cutting made a lightning blindside break and offloaded to prop Brett Chant who went over in the corner as Woolner missed the conversion.

From the kick-off, Pibworth for Bridport ,made a break into the 22 and kept the ball alive allowing the forwards to drive to the line and Cutting was on hand to score, which was converted.

From a 22m line-out, another great catch and drive took the forwards up to the line for Pete Philips to pick up and dive over the maul to score near the posts, Woolner converting.

The Blues drove a Weymouth scrum off the ball and Cutting snatched the loose ball and off-loaded to Mcoughlin who went over in the corner. Woolner added a superb conversion from the right touchline.

Weymouth next face a trip to Oakmeadians on Saturday.

Weymouth: Hamilton, Sankey, Hurrell K Leatham, J Leatham, Norton, Driver, A Bowditch, Orlacchio, Toms, Harris, Savage, Allan, Young, Richards. Reps: Keable-Kinsella, Tibble, Davis, Allen, Farley, Billington

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