Salisbury enjoy first win of new campaign (From Salisbury Journal)

Salisbury enjoy first win of new campaign

3:44pm Wednesday 24th September 2008 in Journal Rugby

A HOME win against Swanage and Wareham proved a timely boost for Salisbury Rugby Club, getting their South West League Division Two (East) campaign off the mark.

However, while welcome, the winning performance lacked the flair that might have been expected of a side with promotion ambitions.

A scrappy game saw both sides struggle to make the most of their periods of possession.

Swanage and Wareham's initial tactic involved shipping the ball out wide at every opportunity, running at the hosts' defence.

However, Christian Metson and Nick Stallard were both solid in the tackle, keeping the Swans at bay.

For their part, Salisbury failed to mirror their opponents and use the wings to attack, getting drawn in to a series of ultimately futile midfield tussles.

It was a bit of a fractious affair, one player from each side paying an early visit to the sin bin.

With the referee proving eagle-eyed, Salisbury were caught out in a series of infringements but were let off the hook when the sloppy Swans failed to convert their opportunities into points.

With the half-hour mark approaching and both sides feeling that a breakthrough must be imminent, it was Salisbury who eventually moved up a gear.

Metson started a move down the left-hand flank from Salisbury's own 22-metre line.

Several pairs of hands later, it was Metson again who, having run a perfect line the length of the pitch, received the final pass and crossed for the opening try.

Liam Gilbert stepped up to claim the extra two points.

With the sinbin again reducing the home side to 14, half-time came as a welcome relief to Salisbury, who were pleased to go in seven points up.

However, Swanage are not a constant presence in the top half of the table for nothing, and they set out to make life difficult for Salisbury, constantly underlining the vulnerability of their lead.

The handling errors continued on both sides, but Salisbury's front eight, crucially, did just enough to keep their noses in front while they bided their time.

A line-out in the right hand corner saw Richard Roe take the ball and find the wiating hands of Nick Stallard, who edged the play closer to the try-line.

As the ball went left, Steve Drawbridge received and made a direct dash for the try-line. He was held up just short but not before spying the excellent run of Metson and slipping the ball to him.

Metson didn't break stride, speeding over between the posts to score his second of the match.

Gilbert was again successful with the conversion.

With the points safe, the match ended on a worrying note for the hosts when Phil Carr and Tim Shipsey went to tackle the same opponent, a high-speed clash of heads resulting in both needing hospital treatment.

Carr was released having had six stitches, while Shipsey underwent a CAT scan and was kept in overnight for observation.

He is likely to be out of action for several weeks.

Although delighted to have their first win under their belts, Salisbury will be looking for a more fluent display when they head to Cheltenham on Saturday (3pm).

Vice captain Liam Gilbert drew plenty of positives from the match.

He said: "We were still a bit rough around the edges but at least the desire to win was evident.

"Keeping the score to nil will also give the boys a boost because it shows that we can keep teams out. We just need to work on taking our chances a bit more."

Meanwhile a young Salisbury seconds side enjoyed an emphatic 41-0 victory against Swanage and Wareham's second string.

Drew White scored two tries with Matt Palais, Sean Barwick, Pete McClennan and Alex Horne also crossing the line.