DORSET & Wilts’ dream of a Twickenham outing will have to wait another year after they suffered a 49-15 defeat to Leicestershire in the RFU County Shield.
The Twin Counties had recorded three straight wins over Middlesex, Essex and Hampshire but found their semi-final opponents too hot to handle.
Dorset & Wilts, who had beaten Leicestershire in the final at Twickenham five years ago, failed to retain an early lead at Vipers RFC and were eventually well-beaten.
Matt Pallas’s side, without five players from the squad that had overcome Hampshire, took a 10-8 lead when Swanage & Wareham fly-half Charlie Parish intercepted and put North Dorset’s Harry Salisbury in to score.
Skipper Dave Hogg slotted the conversion to add to his earlier penalty.
However, the match turned when hooker Luke Esnouf was yellow-carded and the visitors took full advantage as they stormed into a 30-10 lead at the interval.
After the restart, the home pack used their superior muscle to boss proceedings and racked up further points.
Despite this, the visitors managed to cross once more when Sherborne’s Tom Lane burst clear to score an unconverted try.
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