This was the Teams first meeting this season and, with Salisbury above Swans in the table, both were very keen to make their mark on the fixture with Swans wanting a victory to improve their season and Salisbury wanting to strengthen their hold on third place and mount a challenge on Wimborne for second, so performance from the kick off was important. Sadly Salisbury receiving the ball carried it into touch for a lineout, and then they didn’t contest the lineout and allowed Swans to bully them off the ball and score a try down the Salisbury left wing which was wide open, end of the first minute. This set the stage for the first quarter of the game with Swans battering Salisbury in Rucks, Scrums and Lineouts driving them back and it was only fierce defending by the visitors that kept Swans out but the inevitable happened and Swans, in a Maul, pushed Salisbury over the line for Swans second try. The insult of being pushed over their line seemed to galvanise Salisbury because from the restart they put in a furious attack for the first time taking the game to Swans and showing what they are capable of. The reward was a penalty within range and Fly Half Marcus Beer took the three points to put Salisbury on the scoreboard. From that point Salisbury started to take the upper hand and put together some very good phases of play and convincing attacks but failed to turn the play into points. Swans were also working hard and attacking as hard as Salisbury, only the tackle rates of Beer, Flanker Brendan Musgrave, Flanker Jonny Eden-Hamilton and some spectacular wrap ups by second row James Richards slowed down Swans enough for the rest of Salisbury to keep them out. Unfortunately Swans punished some loose play and once more broke down the Wing to score their third try just on half time. Salisbury went in the wrong side of a 19:3 score line. It looked like Salisbury were going to get back in the game and catch Swans but a real win seemed unlikely, or was it.

During half time Coach Simon Hedges made some changes bringing Jake Williams in from Full Back to Scrum Half, John Kay at Hooker and Josh Green at No8. Then after advice from their Coach and some expectations explained by Captain Beer the game re-started. Salisbury took the restart, chased the ball well, contested at the Ruck that formed, won it, scrum half Williams got the ball out to Beer who released the backs to enable Eden-Hamilton to score Salisbury’s first try, end of first minute. What followed was the most tenacious performance I have seen in a long time. With a change of pace across the squad, Salisbury stared to dominate Swans defeating them in the majority of Rucks, Mauls, Line outs and Scrums. When Swans did have possession they couldn’t break the Salisbury defensive line and travelled sideways rather than towards the Salisbury line. After a furious five minutes another good break from a Ruck sent the Salisbury backs down the pitch at pace and allowed Full Back Finn Rauh to score Salisbury’ second try. Much more of the same followed with the Salisbury pack holding and defeating Swans in set pieces and the blistering defence just stopping Swans flat every time they looked like putting phases together. Halfway through the second half following a battering of the Swans defence on their line Williams darted through from a Ruck to score Salisbury’s third try, converted by Beer and Salisbury took the lead. By this point Swans were getting frustrated amongst themselves and with the way the game was going and the inevitable happened with them conceding a penalty for pulling Jake Williams shirt in a Ruck preventing him playing the ball, step up Beer, 3 points and the lead 19:23. But there was more to come as Salisbury wanted to close the game out and following several phases of play they shredded to Swans defence for Adam Wookey playing 12 to run in Salisbury’s fourth try, converted by Beer and victory 19:30. Through sheer determination, hard work and focussed aggression Salisbury turned the game right round and scored 27 unanswered points in the second half. It is difficult to pick out individuals but I have to mention Jack Paffett as Pack Leader, fantastic game leading by example and a phenomenal work rate, the voice of James Richards from in the Scrum encouraging the pack, Jake Williams second half performance at Scrum Half and the ferocious tackling of Marcus Beer and Brendan Musgrave but in fact this was a true Team performance of which the Club can be proud.