DORSET and Wiltshire need to overhaul a 13-point deficit against the North Midlands on Saturday if they are to reach the quarter-final of the Tetley's Bitter County Championship Shield.

The Twin Counties looked as though they might pull off a major shock when they led North Midlands 11-3 at the break in their Pool One qualifying round tie at Chapel Gate last weekend.

But with Dorset and Wilt-shire's plucky amateurs still holding onto a 16-16 scoreline with an hour gone, they then lost steam and North Midlands, featuring a team crammed full with professional club players, finally took control.

The Black Country outfit ran riot in the final 20 minutes and eventually triumphed 29-16 to make them the favourites to finish the job off at Dudley Kings-winford in three days time.

A quick glance down the team list in the programme highlighted the size of the Twin Counties task at Chapel Gate.

Most of the Black Country men were drawn from National League clubs, whereas the highest level of rugby in which the Dorset and Wiltshire squad will be competing next season is South West Division Two.

However, that should not be allowed to detract from an exceptional first half display by the Twin Counties.

They grasped the game by the scruff of the neck and led 11-3 at the break when, with a little more luck, the margin could have been even greater.

The West Country men went straight into attacking mode and from the kick-off Dorches-ter flanker Richard Elliott burst clear. He unloaded the ball just short of the Midlander's line, but an 11th hour block sent Wootton Bassett wing Nigel Francis into touch just shy of the visitor's try line.

From the resulting line out, a North Midlands player strayed offside and Swanage and Wareham centre Phil Graves slotted over a penalty to give Dorset and Wiltshire a 3-0 lead.

Elliott charged down an at-tempted North Midlands clearance kick, the ball ran loose and a visiting forward was penalis-ed for preventing fair play by lying on the ball. Graves strok-ed over another penalty to make it 6-0 to the Twin Coun-ties. With their pride hurt, the contracted players in the North Midlands outfit were stung into attacking action.

But a wild pass inside the Dor-set and Wiltshire 22 metres line was intercepted by Wootton Bassett full back David Parker who sprinted the length of the field to touch down.

With half time beckoning, the touch judge saw North Mid-lands prop Terry Sigley stamping and he was yellow carded when the red option seemed more appropriate.

Down to 14 men for 10 minutes, the visitors raised the stakes and following a period of sustained pressure, a Twin Counties forward killed possession and full back Steve Smart opened North Midlands' ac-count with a penalty to cut Dorset and Wiltshire's half time lead to 11-3. Elliott was next to see yellow when straight from the restart he was punished for a professional foul and sin-binned for 10 minutes.

Smart added two more penalties for North Midlands, then their flanker Jason Mellors chipped ahead, when it looked more favourable to keep ball in hand, picked up the loose ball and grounded it for a try.

The conversion was stroked over by Smart to give North Midlands a 16-11 advantage.

With Elliott back in action, the Twin Counties took play into the visitor's territory. Win-ning possession from a line out, the ball was spun wide to Francis and he touched down in the corner to level at 16-16.

Birmingham and Solihull scrum half Gavin Cattle scored two late tries for North Mid-lands, for whom Smart added another penalty.