SHERBORNE 31

WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 7

WEYMOUTH & Portland’s Seahorses found the going too heavy at Sherborne, recording a 31-7 loss in Counties One Tribute Southern South.

This assignment was always going to be a tough ask for Rich Bament’s men, with Sherborne having been relegated from the regional division and currently residing in second place.

However, the Seahorses were far from disgraced as they kept Sherborne’s scoring down while providing threats of their own.

Weymouth & Portland restricted the hosts to few chances in the first 20 minutes but Sherborne did eventually break through on the wing for an unconverted try.

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The visitors looked to keep the score tight until half-time but two mistakes resulted in two further tries, including a dart through the middle of the away side’s defence.

Only one of the three scores was converted but Sherborne were able to extend their lead to 31-0 in the second half.

Reece Makin produced a moment of magic from around 35 yards out to touch down and avoid a whitewash, the makeshift fly-half then converting his own score before full-time.

Speaking to Echosport, Bament said: “It was always going to be a tough ask at Sherborne, we knew it would.

“For the first half-hour we did well. They were up in our faces very quickly so maybe they caught us a little off-guard and a bit panic-stricken at times.

“After half an hour they were only 5-0 up and then they scored two quick tries before half-time which kind of made our job in the second half a bit harder.

“We kept going until the end but unfortunately they had a bit more in the backs and as a team overall, which put the gloss on the score.

“We know there’s going to be tough games and games we want to target to keep ourselves in the league.

“North Dorset’s gone, Sherborne’s gone and Royal Wootton Bassett’s gone. We don’t need to play them again.

“We’ve got all the teams around us, so we’re quite positive for the second half of the season.”

Weymouth & Portland welcome fellow promoted side Corsham to Monmouth Avenue on Saturday, looking to avenge a narrow 28-27 defeat back in September.

Bament added: “They had a good win against Wootton Bassett so their spirits will be high.

“But I feel that’s a game we should’ve won when we went up there. We lost by one point, again by our own mistakes but we’ll learn from them.

“We’re looking forward to it and to righting the wrongs from when we went up there.”

Tim Comben (bicep) is out for the season but Matt Savage returns at fly-half, allowing Makin to return to full-back.