There was very little seasonal cheer at Coburg Road as Dorchester struggled to overcome a spirited Bradford on Avon side who have yet to win this season. Three late tries putting a gloss on the scoreline that was barely merited.
Dorchester never came to terms with the referee’s interpretation of the scrummaging laws, meaning every scrum took an age and more often than not ended in a penalty one way or another. An early try by centre Toby Waddington converted by Adam Jones set the home side on their way before the visitors hit back with a simple penalty kick.
Twenty minutes in and Dorchester extended their lead, prop Tom Bamlet was held up a metre short but fellow prop Stephen Hodgson was on had to get the touchdown. The visitors had chances of their own and it was only two excellent tackles by James Spensley that prevented them scoring. The interval arrived with Dorchester leading twelve points to three.
Dorchester started the second period positively and James Newsam crossed for Dorchester’s third try. Following this brief flurry however, the game degenerating into a scrappy mess with neither side able to impose themselves on the game. The Bradford fly half dropped a neat goal to narrow the gap to eleven points but Dorchester were never in any danger of losing the game.
The visitors were reduced to fourteen men for the last ten minutes when their centre left the field injured and they had already used their only replacement. Inevitably Bradford’s brave resistance crumbled as Dorchester scored tree tries in the last five minutes. Lee Harvey, James Baker and captain Dave Gower all scoring without a Bradford player touching the ball, apart from kicking off between the tries. Replacement fly half James Rossiter converted all three tries and the visitors could rightly feel that the final score was not a fair reflection of the previous eighty minutes.
Acheson Construction man of the match:: Justin Miller.
Team: Hodgson, Chalker, Bamlet (Borries 70), Makepeace (Hawkins 60), King, Newsam, Miller, Dixon; D Gower, Jones (Rossiter 70); Baker, Waddington, Harvey, T Gower; Spensley;
