This was a brilliant way to start the campaign this year with a comfortable victory over North Dorset by 57 points to 24.

This game marked this teams best to date with some fantastic tries with an excellent display of offloading and defence.  It only took 5 minutes for the first try to come through a chip over the top by Joe Wyatt and Conor Hartley broke through to catch it and score.  Joe then bagged one for himself with some excellent footwork from stand off to go over the line. The third try was again scored by Conor who took the ball from an offload and ran across the pitch only to make a drastic change of direction towards the posts.

The next try was very well deserved from hooker Craig Dunn after some fantastic maul work, Ivel’s persistence paid off when Craig found a small gap off the maul to go over. Tom Venus secured a try on his debut for the club with another good run from Conor and then utilising a two on one situation for Tom to score in the corner. The next try came from some fantastic initiative from Ben Watkins after Ivel received a penalty. He took the ball and ran through the entire North Dorset team while they weren’t looking and went over to score. All fantastic tries and this was just the first half.

The second half saw some similar results when Jimmy Newport went over practically straight away from the kick off when the Ivel team made their way up the field with some fantastic offloading to score in the corner. The next try came from Conor again after taking the ball in our own 22 he then set about taking it to the other side of the pitch to score again and to top it off he and Tom worked the ball from one side of the pitch to the other for Connor to score his 4th try. 

Head coach Lee Murgatroyd said “It was a fantastic achievement from the first time I coached the guys against North Dorset in which we lost 70-0, we have now turned the tables in 2 seasons to be a dominant force and the whole team deserves credit for the work they have put in.  It was hard to have to play coach, waterboy and medic all at the same time because they overlap, but when the score ends up as it did its worth it.  Jimmy Newport deserves a special mention because he played in the centre as we were short which is a change from his usual position as a prop, but the whole team deserves credit for an outstanding performance”

Try scorers were:Connor Hartley (4).  Joe Wyatt.  Craig Dunn.  Tom Venus.  Jimmy Newport.  Ben Watkins

A very good showing of rugby marred by Ivels poor discipline and decision making.

The first half was a very close encounter and the first try came in the last play of the half when an Ivel clearance kick was charged down and the ball was touched down for a try.

The second half was as close as the first until a brawl started and three players were yellow carded. (2 Ivel, 1 Frome). Frome used this advantage fully, scored 3 tries and the game was really gone after that.

Lee Murgatroyd said “The game was close until the  sin bins from our team.  Discipline has never been a problem before and it will be dealt with properly. The one thing we can take away from the game is that we didn’t give up even though we had a tough time from the start. We have a lot to work on based on this but it’s a positive step in the right direction against a team with a lot of skill.  The only difference in the game was they did all the basic skills very well, it shows that basic rugby is the best way to play”