Any euphoria from last weeks good
win was rapidly dissipated as Dorchester were brought
back down to earth with a bump. A large amount of
unavailability, plus having to help out the A and
1st XVs meant that the Gladiators trekked to the frozen
wastes of Somerset with only 14 players expected.
So it was a pleasant surprise to find Charlie Taylor
in the changing room, giving us a complete team once
the Portland contingent had finally arrived.
Dorchester started uphill and into the sun, and
quickly found the expected forward pressure from
Frome driving them backwards. However, Frome gave
away a constant stream of penalties, allowing the
visitors to work their way into striking range.
A couple of penalty kicks were very narrowly missed,
but then Frome seemed to step things up. They cut
down on their penalty count, and brought a couple
of backs into play (unexpected for Frome to have
backs!), who revelled in breaking the tackles of
Dorchester's inexperienced outer backs. Tries flowed
thick and fast.
At half time captain Ed Taylor rallied his troops
with a call for unity and effort, and they responded.
The scrums had to go uncontested due to a minor
neck injury - these had been giving Frome plenty
of good opportunities in the first half. A rearrangement
of the Dorchester scrum released the props into
the back row, where they showed they may have been
relatively light but they could run fast and well,
breaking tackles of their own. The second half was
much more evenly contested, with Dorchester defending
much better, and Frome apparently tiring despite
having several substitutes, meaning the Dorchester
were retaining their own ball better at breakdowns,
and snaffling Frome ball too. The visitors started
to make inroads of their own, with fine runs by
hooker James Martin and starting prop Daniel Congo
in particular, one of which finished with Congo
going over in the corner. A second try appeared
to be on the cards, but a covering tackle in the
Frome 22 was not supported quickly enough, and Frome
quickly span the ball through several pairs of hands
to the opposite wing, and a return of tackling failure
allowed him to stroll under the posts.
Although Dorchester were outgunned, there were
some fine individual performances, with Tim Stephens
winning ball at mauls, good carries by Ed Taylor
and Ben Sennett, and scrum half Aaron Selsdon tackling
his heart out. A highlight was Dorchester pleading
successfully with the ref not to bin a Frome player
for an infringement on their 5 yard line, which
was much appreciated by the hosts.
Next week the Gladiators travel to Swanage and
Wareham, to face another big pack. The last time
these two sides met it was a very even contest,
with Swans up front superiority being countered
by Dorchester's backs, and Swans running out narrow
winners at the last minute.
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Gladiators are Dorchester's third team. 
