Puddletown made the trip to promotion chasing Weymouth, with a few regulars missing due to injury and covid but buoyed by two good wins either side of the new year.

On a bright day playing in polar opposite conditions to the previous week, the boys from Greenfields kicked off and looked forward to the hard battle that is always expected in what has become a feisty rivalry with Weymouth.

The opening salvos were evenly matched with both teams probing in attack and being stout in defence. Puddletown fly half James Elwood missed a difficult penalty shot and after a period of good build up play and some Puddletown indiscipline Weymouth managed to put a string of phases together, finally getting over the line through Matt Savage to take a 5-0 lead.

Undeterred Puddletown kept pushing forward, working their way up the pitch and after a quick tap from Captain Tom Nixon and a series of strong runs from the Puddletown pack, Weymouth infringed allowing Elwood to make up for his earlier miss and put Puddletown on the board with a penalty. The rest of the half was spent in an arm wrestle with both teams attacking with vigour and defending brutally. Weymouth looked to play an expansive game but resolute defence especially from Elliot Frampton in the centres and Joe Malpas in the back row helped stem the tide and Weymouth were unable to find that last pass when they did find space.

After a tight half, the chance for a breather and some water was well received at half time. The message from the Puddletown coaches was to keep our discipline and working to our game plan and the chances would come.

The second half could not have started better for Puddletown. After some back and forth Puddletown managed to clear the ball downfield after an aggressive kick chase and a great bit of breakdown work from Tom Doyle, Puddletown won a penalty 5 metres out. Deciding on a more aggressive approach, they tapped the penalty with strong carries from Sam Knott, Rhys Jenner and Chris Haynes pushing at the Weymouth line. After battering away at the line the ball was fed to Elwood who launched a great cross field kick to allow impressive debutant Brad Harris to win the foot race and dot the ball down. Elwood then added the extras.

Again there was a period of sustained pressure from Weymouth who were struggling to break down the strong Puddletown defence. After multiple phases a loose Weymouth pass allowed Elwood to intercept and race away to the try line from 60 to put Puddletown in a commanding 17-5 lead. Weymouth were to be undeterred though and really upped their intensity. With a lot of dangerous attacks only salvaged by some great last ditch tackling and bodies being put on the line especially by replacement scrum half Lucas Frizzle, Weymouth were again and again kept at bay.

Eventually their persistence paid off and they managed to work a fantastic move down the left wing with a series of offloads allowing Andy Bowditch to score under the posts and the resulting conversion made it 17-12. A trading of penalties and more back and forth pushed the score to 20-15 with 10 minutes left and the game firmly in the balance. Things got even tighter after Weymouth managed to get another penalty to bring it to a two point game with 5 left on the clock.

The last 5 minutes were tense with Weymouth pushing for the winning score and Puddletown throwing bodies into every tackle to try and keep them at bay. Weymouth strung one last attack which set their winger free but a great covering tackle from Elwood chopped him down. Unfortunately E. Frampton was judged to be off his feet competing for the ball and gave Weymouth one last penalty inside the Puddletown half. They kicked to the corner, hoping to use their size to batter over the line for the winning score which for the rest of the game hadn’t worked for them against the aggressive villagers defence.

At this point their usually solid line out let them down at the last, being adjudged not straight and the referee blowing the final whistle for a famous Puddletown victory leading to a great sense and relief and celebration from the underdogs.

Man of the match went to James Elwood who led in both attack and defence and had an outstanding game.

Special mention must also go to the front row of Jack Rattle, Rhys Jenner and Freddie Wobblebolt who played the full 80 minutes against significantly bigger pack and punched well above their weight.

Next week is a rest in the league for the “farmers” from Puddletown before they face another top of the table side in Blandford, looking to upset another team higher than them in the league.

The Roving Pirate (Tom Nixon)