BOURNEMOUTH III 17 BRIDPORT 46

TOM Gamwell’s side maintained the feel-good factor after triumphing at Bournemouth Thirds, to follow on from one of the most successful nights at the club for the opening of the Rugby World Cup.

The Blues were unfortunate to miss a penalty in the first 10 minutes, but this was very quickly followed with a charge down and Will Everitt ripped the ball out of a maul, clearing quickly to Mark Gough to put Bridport on the scoreboard.

Bournemouth then came back quickly with a try to the far corner to even the points up, which helped them to lift their game play.

But that was quickly knocked with a penalty from Ricky Stubbs from 35 metres.

With excellent defence work on the Bridport line, following a knock-on the visiting try line, the visitors managed to hold off the Bournemouth threat.

Bob Lester-Card made an excellent clearance with the ball kicked to the opposition half, which then knocked on on the follow up.

However, at the scrum, Josh Walton hooked one against the head and Darragh McLoughlin at number eight took the ball from the back of the scrum for a try in the corner, which was successfully converted by Lester-Card Following the restart.

A good return kick from Lester-Card to the home full-back was fumbled and offloaded by Richard Pearce to Lester-Card for another five points, plus a conversion from Ricky Stubbs.

This took the Blues into the second half in good spirits, but with Bridport now playing up the hill in the second half, it could have been difficult, which showed straight away as Bournemouth came away quickly with an unconverted try.

At this point, Gamwell made some substitutions to freshen up his side just at the right time, as Stubbs took a great pass from Richard Pearce and McLoughlin from the back of the scrum, took another five points to add to his tally for the afternoon.

Bournemouth came back with another try, but now the Bridport backs were running the ball well along the line allowing Dave Cutting and James Tuck to put another 10 points on.

A club spokesman said: “This was an excellent game with evenly matched forwards and the backs playing good open rugby, which allowed them to keep the ball moving forward for game supremacy.

“Player of the match was decided to go to the whole team for excellent effort and open play.”