South West Conference

SOUTH DORSET GIANTS 44 EXETER CENTURIONS 26

SOUTH Dorset Giants recorded their first win of the season in some style at Monmouth Avenue – exacting revenge over Exeter Centur-ions at the same time.

After going down to a heavy 54-18 defeat in Devon in their South West Conference curtain-raiser last month, and almost going out of business last week, the Giants were eager to bounce back.

And they made a dominant start to proceedings on home turf, despite losing young starlet Luke Savage to injury early on.

Their efforts paid off when Nick Reynolds was the first man to cross the whitewash, following some good play from debutant and man-of-the-match Gareth Iles.

The Giants’ superiority continued throughout the first half with further scores coming from Dave Cutting, Lian Berry, Iles and Tom Smethurst. Seventeen-year-old Lewis Allan added the extras on three occasions.

Exeter began to exert some pressure of their own but solid defence and big hits, notably from Smethurst, Berry and player-coach Anthony Cowburn, restricted their total.

Going forward the Giants were excellent with Cutting and Reynolds bagging their second tries of the afternoon, before Cowburn sprinted in unopposed from 40 metres.

Lewis Allan dispatched the conversion to complete a fine day’s work for the hosts.

Manager Dave Allan said: “I would like to say a big thank you to Weymouth RFC who stepped in to help us out when we were let down for a venue at the last minute.

“The game itself was fantastic, we showed some really good touches going forward with Gareth Iles performing extremely well on his debut.

“We almost went out of business last week but the RFL stepped in to pay an outstanding insurance bill for us so we were able to play. So to win in the manner we did was especially pleasing.

“We are the only rugby league club in Dorset so are fighting a lone furrow. If anyone would like to get involved in either sponsorship, playing or to come on to the committee, they can visit our website southdorsetgiants.co.uk for contact details.”

The Giants train every Wednesday evening at Monmouth Avenue (6.30-8pm).