Dorking Reds vs Cobham – Match Report, 21 January 2024
Following last week’s nail-biter against Winchester in the National Cup, Dorking Colts opened their Harlequins Cup campaign with both teams at home. The Colts have come a long way from struggling to put out one side only a few years ago to fielding over 40 boys on Sunday.
The Dorking Reds faced Cobham in the top tier of the Quins Cup. Having won the Surrey Cup before Christmas, Dorking are top seeds in the competition. Cobham fielded a largely under-17 side, but having dominated at under-16 level the year before, Dorking knew they were in for a test.
With Storm Isha on the way, Dorking moved the game to the top pitch at the Big Field, sacrificing a larger pitch for firmer footing. Playing with the slight slope in the first half, this was more than negated by a strong and gusty wind. This almost played into Dorking’s hands from the kick off as winger Will Simpson was able to field the kick off just outside the Cobham 22 and almost breached the line.
But Dorking didn’t have to wait too long for the first score. Some great phase play from Dorking with forwards and backs inter-linking saw them move the ball left, switch to the right and put Simpson into space in the far-right corner for the opening score. 5-0
After the restart Cobham failed to deal with a Dorking kick and Simpson on the Dorking wing scooped the ball up 20 metres out and with his Captain running a support line on his inside shoulder had an easy offload for Alex Power to touch down right of the posts, with Tom Harper adding the extras. 12-0
The Dorking forwards were now starting to get the upper hand at both scrum and lineout. From another strong scrum, the Dorking backs ran a lovely set play, pulling the ball back to centre Will Darbishire to power over in the centres. Harper’s conversion held up in the wind, bounced off the crossbar and blew back onto the pitch to keep the score at 17-0.
Dorking turned the screw with another excellent score. In increasingly difficult conditions, hooker Reuben Pilbeam hit Tom James in the lineout. His tap down was scooped up by prop Duncan Stott who barrelled towards the Cobham line, tying in defenders. Some simple hands presented Darbishire, who is deservedly off to play for South-East England next week, with the simplest of scores. 24-0
Dorking were not done with the first half just yet. Captain Power kicked with real purpose all day and after clearing Dorking’s lines, he was first to the bouncing ball, beating two Cobham defenders. His fly hack was gathered by winger Toby de la Hoyde to sprint from distance for the final score of the half. 31-0 in those conditions was an outstanding effort.
Dorking were now playing with the wind and making their forwards superiority count. Taking a scrum against the head just outside their own 22, the Dorking backs then moved the ball quickly and put de la Hoyde into space. From long range he sprinted past a number of despairing Cobham tackles leaving a trail of defenders in his wake for an outstanding solo effort. 36-0
Dorking continued to focus on their set piece dominance and with pressure at scrum time and great midfield defence. This put Alex Power in a position to put a ball over the Cobham defence which was scooped up by Charlie Aldridge to touch down under the posts with the extras being added by Harper. 43-0
Following the restart and further strong defensive sets Dorking opened up the blind side out on the right hand side playing up the hill, some quick hands put Simpson into space with plenty to do and three Cobham defenders to beat but Simpson’s pace put an end to any chase leading to a touch down and Harpers conversion to follow. 50-0
Dorking colts had been working on a number of set piece plays from scrum and they were presented with an opportunity to score from a strike-play in the dying minutes - quick ball from the scrum and some incredible backs deception led to Tom Harper dotting down under the posts and he followed up with the conversion. 57-0
Credit to Cobham who never gave up and were to have the final stay with a good restart and penalty that brought them to the Dorking line. Dorking maintained a strong defence of their line but Cobham had the nous to spin the ball wide and play around the narrow defence and score on the final play. With the conversion missed, it ended 57-5 to Dorking.
For the Dorking Reds team, it was a performance that tapped into much of the previous week’s training patterns and the collective clarity of decision-making and leadership was very clear to see as they dispatched a competitive Cobham side. Next for the Reds is Teddington away in the 2nd round of the Quins cup on Sunday
