This was a real crunch match. North Dorset had won all 6 of their league games, and we were unbeaten with 5 wins and a draw. It turned out that the league table didn't lie, the teams were very well-matched and had a very close-fought game.

Both teams were generous in giving away possession with some wayward tactical kicking and confusion in the lineouts. The referee was very strict and awarded a lot of penalties, pretty evenly shared. And both teams defended ferociously.

We had the best of the early possession and territory, but the visitors' defence held firm. It was around 20 minutes before they made significant headway into our half. They had one penalty attempt which was unsuccessful. Eventually we got the only score of the half with a penalty from inside centre Hugh Bate, to go into the break 3-0 up.

The second half was more of the same. With about half an hour gone Hugh had a go at another penalty from miles out, but it just drifted wide of the posts. We were quickly awarded two further penalties, both of which Hugh nailed successfully. Dorset spent a long time hammering at our goal-line but our defence held out and we finished up with a 9-0 win.

It wasn't pretty and it really was a nail-biter. Until Hugh got the third penalty to leave the visitors needing to score twice it could have gone either way.

See here for an album of photos from the game.

Report and photos: John Palmer