Tinsdale backing All Blacks to beat the drop

Wimborne go into their derby clash at Swanage & Wareham tomorrow (2pm) languishing second from bottom.

Tinsdale’s side have struggled to adapt to life at the higher grade after securing promotion from Southern Counties South, winning only three out of 11 games.

But that tally might easily have been doubled if they could only have eked out one more try to turn narrow defeats against Witney (23-20), Oakmeadians (21-19) and Swans (20-19) into triumphs.

It means All Blacks go into their two games before Christmas, at Bestwall tomorrow and at home to bottom-of-the-table Oaks on December 18, desperately in need of a couple of wins.

Tinsdale said: “I believe we can pull ourselves away from the drop zone, but we need to put a winning run together. We need to show more consistency.

“We’ve shown against Olney (who Wimborne hammered 42-24 at home) and Witney that we can compete with the top teams.”

Wimborne lost 20-19 against Swans at Leigh Park in September, when only a late missed conversion denied them a stunning comeback victory after they had trailed 20-9.

Swans dominated up front, though, during their 42-6 home triumph over Wimborne in the Dorset & Wilts Cup last month.

Tinsdale’s side are aiming to prevent a hat-trick of losses and he added: “We need to perform better up front, because we have the pace and strength in the backs to score points.”

Swans manager Tom Dillon, whose side have climbed to sixth, said: “We’re pretty confident at the moment and the boys are really up for this game.

“But we know Andy Dobson will have prepared his Wimborne boys well, so we’re expecting another close battle.”

All Blacks: (from) Unwin, Hunt, Tinsdale, Roberts, Hay, Champ, Morgan, O’Bryan, van Wyk, Ansell, Andrews, T Brown, Griffith, King, Maltman, Hopkins, Llewellyn, B Brown.

Swans: Frampton, Elford, Sheldrake, Burgess, Penney, Wright, Lewis, Warren, Smyth, Graves, Cottrell, Parish, Wilcox, Dunsford, Rowberry, Andrews, Large, Durrand.