WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 18

BRIDPORT 7

BRIDPORT’S hopes of staving off relegation from Wadworth 6X Dorset & Wits One South were dealt a blow after losing to rivals Weymouth & Portland.

The Blues went into this game needing a win but their hopes were soon dashed by injuries, back-row forward Dan Butler turned an ankle in the warm up and, within 20 minutes of the start, they had lost both scrum-half Lou Gurn and captain Daragh Mcoughlin to bad knee injuries.

These losses unbalanced the side and, despite again dominating the scrums, they went down to defeat at Monmouth Avenue.

It was a disappointing game by both sides not helped by the constant blowing of the whistle.

Neither side were able to string any passages of play together and it was Weymouth who got on the scoresheet first with a penalty.

The Blues responded through some good work by the forwards but the Weymouth defence was very strong and the Blues could not make any real breaks as their rebalanced back line were not able to break clear.

The hosts were soon back in the Blues’ half and gained a second penalty to put them 6-0 ahead.

Then rather against the run of play, Harrison Crane superbly fielded a Weymouth clearing kick on halfway and his powerful run put him through the defence. He then offloaded to Ellis Blackburn, who had backed up well to score.

Waters converted to put the Blues ahead.

This gave the visitors some momentum and, following a penalty kick to touch in the opponents’ 22, a series of drives was just held up by Weymouth and despite them conceding two scrum penalties, the Blues were not able to drive over the line.

Eventually, the Seahorses were awarded a penalty and cleared their lines.

The second half started in a disastrous way for the Blues with nobody claiming Weymouth’s kick-off allowing the home side to snatch the ball and score in the corner for an unconverted try.

The Blues responded to get into the Weymouth 22 from good work from the forwards and gained two penalties in quick succession neither of which Waters was able to convert.

The Blues kept the pressure up with Dave Cutting almost getting over from a maul in the 22 and the forwards again driving close but again the Weymouth defence held.

With the game slipping away from them, the Blues allowed Weymouth to break into their 22, conceding a scrum from which the back row drove over by the posts to close out the game and deny Bridport a bonus point.

The Blues are now firmly at the bottom of the table and with their next two games away to Bournemouth Thirds and at home to Wimborne they are unlikely to make any move.