Minety caused Dorchester all kinds of problems for the first forty minutes but in the end Dorchester’s superior fitness and all round ability prevailed.
The visitors won the toss and elected to play up the slope in the first half. After a slow start it was the hosts who opened the scoring with a sweetly struck drop goal. Conditions were difficult but both sides did their level best to provide an entertaining match. This was aided by the the referee’s “laissez faire” approach and both sides had chances before Dorchester’s Adam Jones finished off a sweeping move by touching down under the posts. He converted his own try but was unable to convert a second Dorchester try, scored by Lee Harvey, shortly afterwards. It appeared that the visitors had taken control of the game but Minety had other ideas. In the final ten minutes of the half they ran in three converted tries to take a twelve point lead into the break.
Dorchester needed an early score to boost their confidence and it duly arrived via an Adam Jones penalty. With both sides now sensing that the next score would be crucial it was only desperate Dorchester defence that kept Minety from extending their lead. A second Jones penalty closed the gap the six points and Dorchester were now in the ascendancy.
Dominating the set piece and winning more and more ruck ball it was only a matter of time before they went on to win the game. Dave Gower sneaked round the blind side of an attacking scrum to score an unconverted try. Winger Jamie Morgan, making a welcome return, added another to put Dorchester in front. Minety were now forced to attack from deep inside their own half and the inevitable mistakes were made. Jones added a third penalty before, in the dying moments, hooker Mat Chalker was on hand to put replacement Lee King over for the fifth and final try.
Acheson Construction man of the match: Callum Hawkins.
Team: Hodgson, Chalker, Borries (Cottell 65), Broadbent, Makepeace (King 60), Hawkins, Newsam, Dixon (J Gower 75); D Gower, Rossiter; Morgan, Jones, Harvey, T Gower; Biddle;
