Salisbury came close to a shock defeat this Saturday when they travelled away to league strugglers Bridport. This was Salisbury prop Rich West's 200^th first XV appearance but it was clear that the hosts weren't in a party mood as they threw themselves into this fixture. Bridport were rewarded with a penalty after only 3 minutes. Salisbury regrouped and countered with a try for wing Tom Pottage on 10 minutes. Rory Davis added the extras but this wasn't to go as planned. Salisbury's execution was inaccurate and they lacked their normal fluency.

Bridport's efforts were rewarded with an unconverted try for centre Idris Croft in the 19^th minute to take a slender 8 - 7 lead. Pottage added Salisbury's second try 10 minutes later to re-establish the visitor's lead but it was clear that this was a less than convincing performance compounded by a sin-binning for flanker Bobby Saunders on the half-hour.

The visitors extended their lead to 17 - 8 early in the second half with a try from substitute scrumhalf Andrew Herriott but this failed to subdue Bridport. Croft added a penalty for Bridport, quickly followed by a converted try to regain the lead for hosts. With the score at 18 - 17 in Bridport's favour things went from bad to worse for Salisbury.  They were awarded a second yellow card, this time for skipper Liam Gilbert on 58 minutes. But, despite being a player down the visitors did manage to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Davis added two more penalties and there were trys for Richard Knight and a third for Pottage converted by Herriott to conclude a rather fragmented match 35 - 18 in the visitor's favour.

Salisbury's head coach, Mark Bugden made clear that this was a very unsatisfactory performance and that a significant improvement is required if they are to maintain their unbeaten record when they host a very capable Corsham XV at Castle Road next Saturday.

Team: Richard Roe, Tom Pottage, Simon Smith, James Starkey, Richard Knight, Rory Davis, David Tonge, Rich West, Luke Esnouf, Gareth Blackborow, Dave Thorpe, Matt Pallas, Bobby Saunders, James Kay, Liam Gilbert (Capt). Subs: Phil Sutton, Mark Bugden (on for Pallas) and Andrew Herriott (on for Tonge).