WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND 32

SALISBURY II 0

WEYMOUTH & Portland swept past Salisbury Seconds 32-0 at Monmouth Avenue in a tighter match than the scoreline suggests.

Tribute Dorset & Wilts One South bottom side Salisbury gave an excellent account of themselves but the third-placed Seahorses had too much firepower in their ranks.

Rich Bament’s men maintain their pursuit of leaders Blandford and North Dorset, the top three covered by just five points with eight games to go.

Weymouth & Portland had to recover from the early blow of losing Will Quick to injury.

Reshuffling their pack, the Seahorses put flanker Scott Greening out on the wing and he almost immediately scored in the corner, with both props involved in the build-up.

READ MORE: Weymouth & Portland 18-20 Puddletown - match report

Salisbury enjoyed good territory in the first half but failed to capitalise with any points.

Weymouth & Portland rapidly turned defence into attack when winning a line-out near their own tryline, scrum-half Jacob Cummings sprinting upfield before being tackled on the Salisbury 22 and Billy Hayne driving over for a try.

Ryan Lewendon added a third score, the fly-half converting two and kicking a penalty for a 22-0 half-time lead.

Greening registered his brace in the second half and prop Tim Comben then charged over to score from a five-metre line-out.

Seahorses’ coach Rich Bament said: “We never really got out of second gear. Initially we thought the game might be called off because they made contact about only having 13 players.

“They asked to play 13 on 13 which is an RFU directive to keep the game going, basically.

“They turned up with 15 and it was a very good second team, no pushover. We could’ve scored a lot more, we had three or four forward passes that we got blown up for.

“That’s our guys being a bit too eager. It was a strange game, rather flat, but we got the job done.

“As soon as we tried to get going, something happened like a mistake, a knock-on or a forward pass.

“It was almost a solemn mood at the end, not bad, but quite bizarre. We won, but it felt like we didn’t.

“The guys are happy because they put in a lot better performance than they did against Puddletown but also they’re a bit disappointed that they didn’t score more and take their chances when they had them.”

Weymouth & Portland have no game on Saturday due to Sherborne Seconds pulling out of the division. The Seahorses next host East Dorset Dockers on Saturday, February 5.