Dorchester cruised into the Final of the Under 17s plate with a performance that Director of Rugby Steve Underhill described as very satisfying, made more so by the fact that all 17 players did their bit. As usual the County Town side took a little while to settle and put themselves under undue pressure by failing to collect the kick off, however nerves started to settle and the visitors finally got into their stride, no more so than in the scrum where James Bickley making his first start as hooker put in a man of the match performance. The home side struggled with the visitors power up front, and whilst it would have been very easy for the home side to go to uncontested scrums all credit to them as they refused to bow to the pressure to do so and competed until the end.
With the forwards providing a solid platform the backs showed safe and quick hands and they looked to spread the ball at every opportunity. Luke Doherty got the first score when he snaffled a ball from a Devizes maul and crashed over. From the restart Dorchester pushed and Connor Skelland touched down to extend the lead. Although the backs produced the attractive rugby it was the forwards who kept the scoring to themselves and No 8 Hugh Vivian who was in fine rampaging mood got the 3rd score, however the best try was to come with the 4th touchdown. With backs and forwards offloading in the tackling and when Charlie Harries produced an offload that Sonny Bill Williams would be proud of Connor Skelland had the easiest of run ins, half time 0-24.
The second half followed much the same pattern as the first and although Devizes battled well they were second best to a well organized Dorchester side. Three second half tries fir Kieran Fry, Dingle (quicker than you think) and a second for Doherty with 2 conversions completing the scoring, Dorchester booked their place in the final.
Head of Rugby Operations, Dan Underhill was keen to express his thanks to Devizes for the welcome and hospitality, although the win was pleasing the atmosphere afterwards made it difficult to leave.
