Dorking 29 – 24 Barnes
Dorking Take the Spoils in a Day for the Debutants
By Kevin Beal
On a day when veteran lock Steve Howorth played his 50th National League match, Dorking had to dig deep in yet another tight game between these two old rivals. As has been typical over the past two seasons and with the lead changing hands with every score, the result was in doubt right up to the final whistle. On balance, Barnes probably had the upper hand in the forwards and Dorking in the backs with the match coming down to the final move of the game when debutant Gareth Stephens, following a patient build up by both forwards and backs crossed the line out wide deep into injury time and Henry Anscombe slotted the conversion.
Barnes kicked off playing down the slope and immediately won a penalty which Jack Martin kicked to the corner. Showing their intent, the Barnes’ forwards executed a perfect catch and drive, held up illegally as it turned out by the Red & Whites and were awarded another penalty. A carbon copy lineout saw another catch and drive, and hooker Josh Archer over the line for the first score of the day, converted by Martin. 0-7 with barely 3 minutes on the clock.
Dorking came back from the re-start with Finn Osborne and Harry Elbrow leading the charge, but with their lineout under pressure particularly from Barnes’ Joe Murphy struggled to retain the ball on their own put in. Despite good attacking moves from both teams, snuffed out either by tight defence, the odd handling error or technical infringement, it was not until the half hour mark that the scoreboard operator was troubled further as Toby McRae was put clear to go over in the top right hand corner following a masterly delayed pass from fly half Tom Hardwick. With the conversion missed, Dorking were back in the hunt at 5-7. At the restart, an offside decision gifted Barnes a penalty, the ball and field position, with the resulting 5m line out ending in the inevitable catch and drive and score for prop George Dean. Martin’s conversion was good, and Barnes looked to be taking a 5-14 lead into the break. But there was time enough for a re-start, and as Osborne broke free with the ball following a line out on the Barnes 22 and looked to offload the ball, a stray Barnes hand deliberately knocked the ball forward to give the home side a penalty and a 5m line out. Taking the ball off the top, Jasper King found Tom Howe on the burst who was in under the posts unopposed for a converted score. 12-14. And despite the clock showing 3.45, there was still time in the half for debutant Max Coyle to take Dorking into the lead as following a sustained period of forward pressure on the Barnes line he found himself out wide with the ball and space. With the conversion missed it 17-14 at half time.
Not the start the home team wanted as kicking off downhill, Barnes were quick out of the blocks and onto the scoreboard as wing Paul Webb latched on to a mistimed Dorking catch and scorched up the touchline for a converted score to retake the lead 17-21. With the game still finely poised neither side could break through the other’s defence, with Dorking’s Will Burroughs in particular showing his tackling prowess.
Barnes’ forwards began to exert control in the set piece, with Dorking’s backs looking threatening in the loose. Again the scoreboard operative was untroubled until on the 60th minute Osborne charged down Dylan Monro’s clearance kick, Anscombe pounced on the loose ball and Howe provided the link to put McRae in the clear for the bonus point try and Dorking back into the lead 22-21. Which is how it stayed until what seemed like deep into injury time, Martin slotted a penalty from the half way line to give Barnes what looked like the winning score, 22-24. With Sir indicating that there was still time on the clock Dorking won a penalty as Barnes held on to the ball just too long in the ruck on the home side’s 10m line. Out of range even for Henry the Hoof, Dorking opted for the touch kick, and from the line out won the ball taking play into the Barnes 5m zone. Patience paid off as after a couple of thwarted forward drives the ball was spun wide down the line where Dorking’s other debutant Stephens was waiting to sprint to the line and touch down in the final play of the game. Well almost the final play, as Anscombe’s conversion from the touchline neatly bisected the posts, and Sir blew for full time. 29 – 24.
Dorking DoR Armand Roux commented “this was a typical Dorking v Barnes game, tightly contested which went down to the wire. I was proud of the way we kept in the game with our defence holding firm. Credit to Barnes, they kept coming at us and made us work very hard. I am very pleased with the win and the composure showed by the players today”
Dorking:
Coyle, Stephens, Howe, Anscombe, Hardwick, Jackson, Birch, Ellis (c), Connor, Howorth, King, Burroughs, Elbrow, Osborne. Replacements - Stephenson, Musa, Golder, Baldwin, Holland.
Barnes:
Graham, Webb, Hardey, Henry, Birch, Martin, Munro, Tack, Archer, Dean, Murphy, Linsell, Spencer-Jones, Kassapian (c) Hill. Replacements- Humphreys, Nwakor, Christie, Gadsby, Crabtree
Star Player – Will Burroughs
Scorers:
Dorking
Tries: McRae 30, 60. Howe 40. Coyle 46, Stephens 88
Conversions: Anscombe 40, 88
Barnes:
Tries: Archer 3, Dean 35, Webb 41
Conversions: Martin 4, 36, 42
Pens: Martin 86
Referee: Mr Alex Powdrell
Attendance: 420
