Freshly returned from his holiday, captain Roly Harries was faced with a complete lack of anyone who knew how to play scrum half or fly half. He duly appointed 2nd row Nick Hodge as scrum half and himself at fly. In the first part of the game this inexperienced pairing often gave rise to problems at the scrum, however the solution was for No.8 Ed Taylor to pass directly to inside centre Sam Akokhia.
The Gladiators knew that this match would be a stern test and so it proved. The hosts were quickly on the board when their scrum half (who had probably played in that position before) pounced on a loose ball from a Dorchester scrum, evaded a couple of tacklers and scored, within a couple of minutes. Shortly afterwards another home team attack led to a score in the corner. At 12 nil down so early, the Gladiators could have been forgiven for despairing, but they dug in, launching attacks of their own. First full back Rory Palmer showed his sizzling pace to score from half-way, stunning the Oakmeadians players, then continuing pressure brought play into the Oaks’ 22 again. The score took a little time to come, but when the tallest player on the pitch attempted to stop a 5’7” winger the inevitable penalty for a high tackle was taken as a scrum. The visitors’ scrum drove Oaks back, leading to further infringements, until eventually Ed Taylor crashed over. Both Dorchester tries were converted and with half time fast approaching, was by then two points ahead. Unfortunately several players ignored the significance of the ref saying “last play”, and instead of making the ball dead from a dangerous position attempted to play it. Oaks’ scramble attack took the opportunity and scored in the corner.
In the second half Oaks tightened up their discipline, reducing their penalty count, and indeed put a penalty over shortly after scoring another try. The key point though was when on 49 minutes Oakmeadians were forced to go to uncontested scrums. By then the Dorchester scrum was supreme, winning the majority of Oaks’ put-ins as well as their own, and this was a severe handicap to the visitors. Nevertheless, Dorchester responded, with bullocking runs from Sam and Roly in particular. One of these charges, with good support, led to a try for hooker Steve Randall, bringing the scores near level. Unfortunately Dorchester then completely fluffed the re-start, failing to get anywhere near catching the ball, and then failing to tackle the Oaks attacker as he weaved through for a try that was a bit of a give-away. Although Dorchester did not give up, with the Three Offenders Sam, Luke and Rory playing well in their 5th, 3rd and 2nd games respectively, Oaks broke through the middle again to add the final score. The lack of substitutes did not help, with Dorchester going a bit flat towards the end.
Mistakes apart, everyone played well, newcomer Sean Mclaughlan adding some welcome gravitas to the scrum and some forceful driving in the tight. Next week sees a friendly at Portland Young Offenders’ Institute, with high-flying Lytchett Matravers on the menu the week after
