A Draw Snatched from the Jaws of Victory
Sevenoaks 26 – 26 Dorking
By Kevin Beal
A tense afternoon in West Kent saw a draw between the two old rivals both promoted from London SE Premier last season.
After much deliberation during the week over the condition of the Knowle Paddock pitch, a second inspection on Friday afternoon saw the venue for Sevenoaks v Dorking match moved to the lush pastures of Sevenoaks School. Thankfully the pupils were away on an exeat weekend.
In contrast with the previous weekend Dorking started well with an unconverted try out right by wing Tom Hunt five minutes into the match. This was followed by twenty minutes of sustained Dorking pressure as man of the match, scrum half Mikey McDonald bossed the forwards around and distributed sharp clean ball to the backs. Aggressive ‘Oaks counter rucking meant however that although the Red & Whites had the lion’s share of possession, progress up field was often halted before the coup de grace could be administered. Eventually, an Oaks line out on half-way was stolen and a high tackle on Mikey McDonald led to a penalty kicked to the corner and an attacking line out from which James Catton drove over for Dorking’s second try of the afternoon, converted by Henry Anscombe. From the re-start kick Dorking continued to attack, kicking for position in the Oaks’ 22. A mis-communication in the Oak’s back line saw the ball bobbing about and wing Toby McRae got boot to the ball, followed up and scooped up the ball to score Dorking’s third with only 30 minutes gone. With the conversion good, Dorking were 0-19 up and set fair.
Oaks subsequently upped the tempo of their game and pressurised the Dorking defence with both backline and forward moves keeping the Red & Whites pinned down in their own 22, and often in their own 5. An increasingly stretched defence began to give away penalties on the ground, culminating in a warning to Captain Dalton from Sir that the next one would result in a yellow card. So when moments later lock Scholes was adjudged to have committed a high tackle he was duly asked to sit out the next 10 minutes. Oaks immediately took advantage with 13 Shayden Osgood crossing the line and 10 Ollie Shirtcliff adding the extras.
7-19 at half time
With the changing rooms a good lick away from the pitch both teams stayed out on the park for the half time team talks, a sight not seen for many a year. From the kick off, the ‘Oaks pack led by no. 8 Fred Richardson took the game back to Dorking who were still a man down and again forced into defensive mode. Another Dorking infringement gave a free kick to the corner and an attacking Oaks line out with a textbook catch and drive was rewarded with an unconverted close range try from prop James Simmons. With the conversion missed, it was 14 – 19 and game on. Dorking hit back immediately as lock Daragh Chambers stripped the ball in the tackle and centre Ryan Jeffery made good distance before the ball was nudged into touch. A knock on by Oaks in the line out gave Dorking a scrum put in, and two quick pick and goes saw the returning Joe Spurgeon over the line for a converted try. 12 – 26.
It was then Oak’s turn to apply pressure and although Dorking cleared the re-start kick they were unable to regain control of the ball and Oaks took the ball back into the Dorking 22 where Captain Fred received both a talking to from Sir and Dorking’s second yellow card of the afternoon. Again capitalising on the extra man, Oaks notched up two well constructed converted tries from no. 10 Shirtcliffe and 11 Short, making it 26 apiece with minutes left to play.
Dorking attacked again but were unable to add to their tally as Fred Dalton was held just short of the line in what looked to the Red & White supporters like the winning score. Oaks cleared their lines with a fine 50-22 kick and mounted what was to be their final attack with what was becoming their weapon of choice, the catch and drive from the line out. Dorking held the ball up, and cleared it in to touch on the half way mark, the final play, somewhat unexpectedly in what had been the proverbial game of two halves.
DoR Armand Roux commented:
“Huge credit will need to go to Sevenoaks for the manner in which they showed some resilience to fight back and get into the game.
Even though it is a draw, it feels like we lost that game as it was in control.
It simply did not work for us today as there was two match-defining infringements missed by the officiating team. We know that it should not come down to the referee’s and we have only ourselves to blame for letting a 14 points lead slip with 25mins to go.
Many positives for us on the day and some great improvements from last weekend. Thought some of our defensive efforts was simply outstanding, alongside set piece working well.
We move forward and focus on Rochford as they travel to Dorking next weekend”
Team: Cam Cowell, Tom Hunt, Fraser Mosley, Ryan Jeffery, Toby McRae, Henry Anscombe, Mikey McDonald, Henry Birch, Jonny Ellis, James Catton, Daragh Chambers, Will Scholes, Tyler Norwood, Fred Dalton ©, Finn Osborne, Callum Watson, Max Sheldrake, Joe Spurgeon, Joel Grant, Austin Emens
Man of the Match: Mikey McDonald
