LOCAL rivals Wimborne made the short trip up from Dorset and had to dig deep to beat their hosts Salisbury in the end, as they left with 27-15.

After weathering an early storm Salisbury began to construct phase after phase of attacking rugby and when Dan Hammond received the ball in space he left the defence leaden footed as he scampered over for a score.

The home side continued to press and were denied by last ditch defence or by their own errors in difficult conditions.

The trusty boot of veteran full back, Tom Pottage, stretched the lead to 8-0 and the home crowd began to hope.

This lead was defended until the interval but Wimborne scored shortly after the break and added the extras to make it 8-7 but this young Salisbury side were not beaten and some strong running rugby saw stand off Flo Ryder step the defence to score.

Pottage added the conversion taking his personal points tally for the club to 1,656 points, surely a target for some of the current youngsters?

Wimborne bolstered their pack with some old warriors and, keeping the ball close, began to dominate.

The home side were unable to compete in the set piece and a converted try was followed at the end by a couple more rumbling efforts to secure the bonus point for the visitors.

Salisbury are to be congratulated for never losing their focus and the youngsters, taking a lead from the experienced Pottage, Gareth Blackborrow and captain Dave Tonge, gave their all. In the end age and size were too much but that elusive win is surely just around the corner.

Salisbury’s second string started slowly against Lychett and despite a fine final 20 minutes lost a game they felt they could have won, going down 26-20.

Player availability is continuing to cause disruption to all selected sides.

Salisbury women played with Winchester against Portsmouth last Sunday.

A sunny and warm day ensured good spirits were high.

Sadly the side were defeated but they held their defence throughout and held their own on the field.

Sarah Taws did a sterling job as team captain and it looks like the team will hold their own in the forthcoming season. It was the last outing for the team manager, Laura Nicholson, as she departs to Edinburgh.

Nicholson said: "I would like to thank the women and the coaches for all their hard work over the last two years.

"It is with sadness that I leave the team, they have been welcoming, friendly and absolute troopers - I will miss them all."