Dorchester left the best till last but this victory against the odds will probably prove to be ultimately in vain as other results went against them.
Playing with the stiff breeze Dorchester started poorly and within five minutes had conceded a soft try, allowing the Oaks centre to run through several weak tackles for the opening score. The conversion was missed but the wake up call seemed to have been heeded and the home side began to get into their higher rated opponents. Despite a significant size difference between the two packs Dorchester’s forwards did well at both scrum and lineout and the backs were never short of good ball.
It was from a scrum deep in the Oaks twenty two that Dorchester opened their account, Dave Gower broke blind and fed Dafydd Wright on his inside to cross for the try. John Firkin added the extras. Dorchester then increased their lead when James Spensley latched onto a bouncing ball and burst through the Oaks defence to score under the posts. The conversion was a formality for Firkin and Dorchester found themselves nine points in front approaching the interval.
The visitors however were in no mood to concede the game even if they had nothing really to play for. A prolonged attack in which forwards and backs combined to retain possession for several minutes finally saw the Oaks’ left winger score in the corner despite Dorchester’s desperate defence. Again the conversion was missed but with the wind to come in the second half the visitors were now looking to be favourites.
Indeed, within ten minutes of the restart Oakmeadians had taken the lead. Firstly they kicked an easy penalty and then scored a converted try by the openside flanker. Dorchester battled on knowing nothing less than victory would give them any chance of avoiding the drop. As the minutes ticked away with nether side looking as if they would score again, Dorchester put on their last two replacements, and it was Luke Weller who made the difference.
The replacement scrum half charged down an attempted clearance kick, regathered and fed Dafydd Wright. He was hauled down inches short of the line but prop Stephen Hodgson was on hand to drive over. Firkin’s conversion shaved the outside of the post to leave the host’s trailing by a single point.
Then in a dramatic finale Dorchester were awarded a penalty thirty five metres out. It was too far to kick against the wind and there was no time to kick to touch and take the lineout so they had to run it. From the ruck a well rehearsed move saw James Spensley sprinting through the middle, he was held up short but managed to make the ball available and quick passing allowed debutant Tom Caines to dive over in the right hand corner. The conversion was missed but the game was won.
The euphoria was short lived however, when it was discovered that Sherborne had somehow contrived to lose at home to Ivel Barbarians and so Dorchester finish eleventh and face probable relegation to Dorset and Wilts 1 South
Weatherbury Hearn- SEC - JW Scaffolding Man of the Match– John Firkin.
Team:- Hodgson, Chalker , Borries (Weston 40), King, Hodges, Brown (Dixon 65), Newsam (Weller 65), Wright D; Gower D, Firkin; Baker, Bament, Elliott, Caines; Spensley;
