ELLINGHAM & R’WOOD II 19

BRIDPORT 34

BRIDPORT continued their impressive opening to the Wadworth 6X Dorset & Wilts Two South season with their third consecutive bonus-point win.

The victory, against a strong Ellingham side, saw the Blues move to second in the table.

Both sides tested each other early on and following an unsuccessful Blues’ kick and chase from Nathan Herbert, the hosts took the drop out and Harry Richardson gained a scrum penalty. George Hussey took a quick tap but was illegally held up and Mitch Waters claimed the points.

The Blues’ scrum started to dominate forcing errors from Ellingham resulting in a clean break by Dave Cutting with good support from Herbert to go over for the first unconverted try.

From the kick off, Herbert made a long clearance kick from which the home side ran back strongly into the Blues’ 22 and, despite a superb last-ditch tackle from Cutting, they scored near the posts for a converted try.

The hosts came back strongly at the Blues who were forced to concede a penalty near the posts which was surprisingly missed.

The visitors soon took advantage of this miss and with a dominant scrum giving their backs good ball they forced a penalty in the 22 quickly taken by Mitch Waters to score which he converted.

The Blues were now pressurising before half-time, after a good break by Oscar Tompkins he was injured and replaced by Jack Streeter who made a immediate impact with a strong run into the 22, but was turned over and the hosts cleared.

The second half started with Streeter continuing his impressive form with a strong tackle that forced a turnover with the offload allowing Waters in for his second converted try.

The Blues were then caught napping in their own 22 when Ellingham took a quick tap to score their second converted try.

From the kick-off, the visitors wasted some good scrum ball with unforced errors but eventually forced Ellingham to turnover the ball and Waters fed the impressive Streeter who scorched down the wing for an unconverted try, extending the Blues’ lead to 27-14.

From the kick off, Herbert cleared long into the home 22 and Streeter was unlucky to knock on following an impressive chase.

Ellingham then forced some excellent defence from the Blues before another quickly taken penalty and strong run by Alex Perkin saw an excellent offload to Richardson for the fifth try converted by Waters.

The hosts now enjoyed their best period, camped on the Blues’ try line and, after a superb period of defence, they eventually drove over for a consolation try.

For his excellent marshalling of the scrum, and ball distribution, James Tuck was awarded Bridport’s man of the match.

The Blues’ next game is home to Wimborne on Saturday.