Sat 16 Oct 2021, 14:30
A large crowd of Home and Away supporters gathered at Slaughtergate to cheer their teams on in the 1st round of the D&W Vase. North Dorset was forced to make a late change to the starting line-up with Freddie Eggleton coming on for Joe Atkins who was trapped in the A 303 Car Park.
The game flowed from end to end from Kick off with both teams searching for the breakthrough without success, until North Dorset ramped up the pressure with a succession of dominant scrums. This gave Brandon Ward the opportunity to make a No.8 pick-up and give a well-timed pass to Adam Trevis who brushed aside several tackles to score under the posts, duly converted by Sam Jones (7-0). The match continued with both sides attacking but held out by good defence. Joe Atkins arrived at last and soon joined the fray for the injured Jamie Bettesworth. North Dorset piled on the pressure against good Puddletown defence but after a good line-out possession turned into a driving maul Henry Barron crossed the line for an unconverted try (12-0). The pressure continued and Jake Canning made a good break, kicked ahead but just failed to control the ball over the line leaving the halftime score at 12-0.
Puddletown began the second half attacking hard and had North Dorset pinned in their own half for a long period but were unable to score due to good defence from the home side. North Dorset bounced back and set up camp in Puddletown`s half but from one of North`s attacks Puddletown stole the ball in the 5m area, however a sloppy missed pass allowed the Poacher Sean Perry in to score, duly converted by Sam Jones (19-0) North Dorset was forced into several changes in personnel at this stage and were caught on the hop with a good Puddletown back movement scoring a try in the corner, unconverted (19-5) North Dorset responded with a good passage of interwoven Forwards and Backs play and Jamie Bettesworth, now back on the field, scored leaving several Puddletown players in his wake, unconverted (24-5).
Puddletown never looked like giving up and attacked hard for a prolonged period,
without success due to great North Dorset defence. North finally broke out with a great move allowing the Poacher Sean Perry to score again converted by Sam Jones bringing the final score to 31 - 5. This was an entertaining match with North Dorset`s good defence and scrummaging against a big pack swinging the balance. North now host Minety on 13th November in the Quarter Final.
Report by Barry D
Next Saturday North Dorset host Wimborne IIs, 3 pm kick-off.
Baker of the week Adam Trevis
Player of the match Tom Judd
