The day before this match Dorchester had a bare 14 players; however some late arrivals enabled a full team to take the field, with the support of a respectable bench, in terms of both quality and quantity.
The Gladiators started by kicking off downhill with the wind, and were quickly given the opportunity of a penalty in front of the posts, duly converted by scrum-half John Bowden. Dorchester dominance at the scrum was rewarded a few minutes later, when John dummied a pass, opening a gap between his opposite number and the Salisbury back row, through which he sailed with apparent ease for the first try, which unfortunately he wasn’t able to convert.
Not to be outdone Salisbury fought back, gaining an unconverted try of their own after a spell of sustained forward pressure.
The game then settled down into a fairly even contest. Dorchester maybe had the upper hand in the first half, eventually bringing full back Rory Palmer into the line, letting him show his pace down the right wing, outrunning both the opposition and his wheezing support for another try, this time converted. Said wheezing support had a chance of his own but somehow forgot to chip ahead with only one man to beat and was bundled into touch.
The second half started fairly evenly again. A long kick from Salisbury was fielded by Peeley, who performed a perfect back-somersault while passing, which miraculously went to hand, leading to Rory running the ball in under the posts from the Dorchester 22 for a converted try, largely ignored by the crowd who were still cheering Peeley’s acrobatics.
After this it seemed the tide had turned in Salisbury’s favour. Attack followed attack, with a combination of dogged defence and handling problems saving Dorchester. Eventually one clearance was collected by the Salisbury fly-half on the Dorchester 22, very wide, and calmly sent over the posts for a drop goal which was applauded by all. His captain made a few choice remarks from the sidelines when he realised what the player was doing, but withdrew them unreservedly. Drop goal attempts are few and far between in Dorset and Wilts South 3, and this was the first successful one seen by your correspondent in 7 seasons. And it’s not even as if it was an easy shot.
However, despite this quite unexpected score, Salisbury were unable to convert their pressure into further points. Despite the fairly conclusive scoreline, the return match is very much up for grabs.
Next week the Gladiators entertain Oakmedians III, who won the away leg by a flattering scoreline; Captain Roly Harries reminded his troops that all hands are needed on deck to avoid a repeat.
