Dorking 55-21 Westcombe Park
Fitness and Fire Power Carry the Day
By Kevin Beal
Previous encounters between Dorking and Westcombe Park have traditionally been tough and today was no different as a combative Park side made the Red & Whites work hard for their victory at The Big Field. Although outscored by 8 tries to 3, they never gave up but ultimately Dorking’s superior fitness and fire power meant that they ran out comfortable winners. Post match many agreed that it was not the game that the scoreline suggested it was.
Playing up the slope Dorking received the kick off and were on the score sheet early with a long range Henry Anscombe penalty after just six minutes of play. Park took the lead shortly afterwards with a try through lock Rafael Lofinmakin-Dutta who following a 5m line out crashed over from short range, converted by last week’s hero Toby Wallace on the ten minute mark.
With Dorking’s line out under pressure from Park’s lighthouse locks, the game wasn’t quite going to plan as they struggled to retain possession from a succession of penalties and touchline kicks, and with honours pretty even in the set piece scrum the game took on a rather staccato pattern. That was until Jasper King drove over, supported by the rest of the pack for Dorking’s first try of the afternoon, converted by Anscombe. 10 – 7. A period of Park pressure ended rather flatly with the ball trickling out over the dead ball line, resulting in a Dorking scrum on the 10m line. A steadying pick up by no8 Finn Osborne from the base put Fraser Mosley in the clear for a dash up the left hand side of the pitch and a slip pass out wide to Toby McRae, who was able to evade the defence to touch down under the posts for the first of his hat trick of tries. With the conversion by Anscombe a formality, the score moved out to a more comfortable 17-7. From the re- start, Dorking retained the ball and Park conceded a penalty, which Anscombe duly kicked to the corner. Captain Fred Dalton collected the tapped down line out ball to barrel over the line for Dorking’s third try, again converted moving the score out to 24 -7.
The final minutes of the first half saw a resurgent Park in the Dorking 22, and with a yellow card for Dorking’s Jardine, they took advantage of the extra man to drive Captain Cook over the line for their second try following a textbook line out play. With Wallace converting on the stroke of half time, the score was 22-14.
The second half saw Dorking playing downhill and it wasn’t long before the back line was taking advantage of the slope. Desperate, and it turned out illegal defence saw a yellow card for Park’s Thompson and it was Dorking’s turn to make the extra man count with a searing break through the depleted defence by fly half Craig Holland setting up the bonus point try for McRae, converted by Anscombe. 29-14
It wasn’t all one way traffic though. Midway through the half following a period of sustained pressure in the Dorking 22, Park’s Cook scored his second, again converted by Wallace from a 5m scrum pick up. But as the clock ticked down, Dorking’s pack led by Finn Osborne, Jonny Ellis and the fresh legs of Joel Grant gained the upper hand in the loose securing quality ball for the backs to attack from deep. With Park’s forwards tiring and Dorking’s set piece gaining the upper hand a second yellow, this time for Park’s 13 handed further advantage to the Red & Whites, and tries by Osborne, McRae and Henry Smith extended the Red & White’s lead to 50 - 21
When they had possession, Park continued to attack with wing Wallace looking dangerous out wide and only stout defence, and in particular some top drawer cover tackling by full back Tom Howe kept the Dorking try line secure from further breaches.
Try of the afternoon came on the stroke of full time as man of the match Will Sanders collected the ball following a Mosley break on the half way line and scythed through the tiring Park defenders to touch down to the left of the posts to seal a fine personal performance, along with the match for the Red & Whites.
Final Score Dorking 55-21 Westcombe Park
DoR Armand Roux commented:
“Even though we showed many ways to score great tries, it was however not as plain sailing as the score line suggests.
It is always hard to re-calibrate oneself after the highs of a Barnes fixture from last week and if we judge that on outcome, then the team certainly achieved that.
However, If we look at performance on the day, then there is clearly some areas to go and work on.
Westcombe Park is not a poor side and the fact we put 55 on them was pleasing to see and considering we left a fair few scores out there means that it’s very exciting times to come.
Denying them the bonus point with some notable defensive efforts, especially Tom Howe was outstanding at the end.”
Next week the Dorking Caravan takes a trip along the Pilgrim’s Way to a resurgent Canterbury, kick off 3.00pm.
Teams:
Dorking:
Howe, Sanders, Mosely, Anscombe, McRae, Jackson, Bristow, Ellis, Stephenson, King, Howorth, Jardine, Dalton (c), Osborne
Replacements: Birch, Connor, Grant, Andresen, Smith
Westcombe Park
Wallace, Thompson, Burton, Braithwaite, Ratcliffe, Harrison, Fryatt, Muhlemann, Wagstaff, Swandells, Smith, Lofinmakin, Devane, Hudson, Cook (c)
Replacements: Harris, Baily, Fombo, Vickers, Davies
Star Player - Will Sanders (Dorking)
Referee: Phil Russell
