Dorchester had to withstand a second half barrage from high flying Trowbridge before earning a well deserved bonus point victory.

In near perfect conditions Dorchester started brightly and soon had a chance to take the lead but Ben Hunt’s penalty attempt drifted just wide. However, the first score was not long coming, No8 Carl Mitchell broke from the back of a line out and off loaded to Joe Gower who went under the posts, Ben Hunt added the conversion points. The visitors hit back with a simple penalty goal but Dorchester extended their lead on twenty minutes, Joe Gower again going under the posts following a line out. Again Hunt converted the try.

By now Trowbridge had lost their composure and Dorchester were able to take full advantage, adding two further tries. Firstly James Spensley ran back a poor clearance kick and when tackled just short was able to feed the supporting James Newsam for the score. Then, following a crooked feed at a Trowbridge scrum, Dorchester took a quick penalty and Carl Mitchell forced his way over in the right hand corner.

The home side appeared to be in complete control but a mistake at the restart allowed Trowbridge to establish an attacking platform and the fullback was able to exploit an overlap and score a converted try.

Clearly Trowbridge were given a wake up call by their coaching staff during the interval as they were a different side after the break. Dorchester however were in no mood to give anything away and, with James Newsam to the fore, their tackling was exemplary throughout the half. Indeed it was Dorchester who scored next, following a period of Trowbridge pressure, James Spensley saw the opportunity of an interception and sprinted in from halfway. Tom Clifford slotted the conversion to extend the lead to twenty one points.

Trowbridge continued to throw everything at Dorchester and almost inevitably the defensive wall was breached. Unconverted tries in each corner narrowed the gap to eleven points and the visitors were in the ascendancy and scenting an unlikely victory.

Dorchester however were not to be defeated and, in a rare visit to the Trowbridge half, Tom Clifford put over a forty metre penalty to put the game out of reach of their opponents. Trowbridge did manage a fourth try at the death to earn a bonus point but the major spoils went to the hosts.
             

Acheson Construction man of the match: James Newsam

Team:  Bamlet, Pengelly, Prior, Hodges, Makepeace, Gower J, Newsam, Mitchell; Bennett, Hunt; Pryce, Clifford, Harvey, Spensley (Miller 70); Read;