DORCHESTER 13

SWANAGE & WAREHAM 38

DORCHESTER slipped to a 38-13 defeat by Swanage & Wareham in their opening game of the Counties One Tribute Southern South season.

Dorchester went into their first game under the guidance of new director of rugby Martin Oxland.

On a very warm late summer day at Surcouf Park, this was the classic ‘game of two halves’ with Dorchester clearly the better side for the first 40 minutes.

Fly-half Alex Peel missed an early penalty chance but soon put Dorchester ahead with a much harder effort.

READ MORE: Dorchester appoint Martin Oxland as director of rugby

The county town outfit, with both scrum and line-out working well, continued to dominate territorially and created several good chances but failed to extend their lead.

In a rare visit to Dorchester’s 22, the visitors managed to benefit from a scrappy line-out and touched down for an unconverted try thanks to number eight Kirk Jones.

However, the hosts were soon back on the attack and a break from hooker Scott Clarke put Jack Adams in for a try which the referee disallowed adjudging the final pass to be forward, a somewhat controversial decision judging by the spectators’ reactions.

Minutes later, a break from centre Jamie Morgan allowed Brook Legg to score between the posts, Peel’s conversion leaving the score 10-5 at the break.

The second half started in similar fashion, Peel adding another penalty to stretch the lead to eight points.

With the very warm conditions taking their toll on Dorchester’s early work rate, the game was then turned on its head with Swans scoring three converted tries, all from close range, in ten minutes.

Matt Roberts finished a move down the right, winger Sam Bowen stormed in to the corner and Jonny Blackmore powered over after a scrum with Steve Woolley thrice converting for a 26-13 lead.

Now trailing by 13 points, Dorchester were certainly running out of steam, several players going down with cramp, and the game becoming a little disjointed.

With the game lost, Dorchester threw caution to the wind, in an effort to salvage a bonus point at least, which only resulted in Swans adding two more tries and converting one of them.

Jones notched his second try with three minutes to go and then full-back George Crouch went over, Woolley’s conversion inviting the final whistle.

With a new coaching setup in place and a three-year plan set out by Oxland, spirit remains high in the Dorchester camp and the squad are keen to build on last year’s success.

Despite the defeat there were plenty of reasons for optimism but also plenty to work on.

The side travel away to Walcot on Saturday, a team they beat last time out at Surcouf Park.