Dorking 13- Henley Hawks 13
Stalemate at The Big Field
By Kevin Beal
A heavy pitch, two well drilled defensive set ups and a plethora of penalties coupled with unforced errors from both sides informed a game that never really got going, ending in for both sides, a rather unsatisfactory draw.
Dorking kicked off playing downhill and were quickly on the attack from a line out on half way following Henley’s clearance kick. And in what was to be a recurring pattern for both sides, fumbled the ball in midfield, resulting in a set piece scrum to Henley. Securing a scrum penalty as Henley were driven backwards off the ball, play moved to a Dorking line out on the Henley 5m mark. A solid take and secure set up for the drive to the line was halted by a shrill blast as Sir adjudged crossing / obstruction and Henley, through the howitzer boot of Max Titchener cleared their lines. In what was to become the pattern of the first half, Dorking retained the ball but gifted possession back to the visitors for ‘holding on’. A midfield miss move from the Hawks centre pairing put Callum Jones in the clear, but the Red & Whites defence were equal to the task and turned the ball over and were back on the attack only to be called back for an offside call. Henley, with an increasing share of the possession camped in the Dorking half but were unable to breach the Dorking defence, led by aggressive tackling from Harry Elbrow and Steve Howorth.
Eventually the pressure told and Titchener slotted a long range penalty to put his side into the lead. But not for long as from the re-start Max Coyle fielded the return kick, wove a full 50 metres through the Henley defence, had a quick 1-2 exchange with Sam Blade and put Tom Howe away in the right hand corner to make it 3-5, with Tom Hardwick’s conversion attempt shaving the wrong side of the posts. Debutant Calum Barrett looked to be settling well in the centre as Dorking broke back into Henley territory, but a double whammy; a yellow card for Chris Bird and an injury to Sam Blade forced a reshuffle which rather put the brakes on Dorking’s aspirations as Henley’s Leo Webb took a quick tap penalty to burst clear of the defence whilst in the untouchable 10m zone to put wing Seb Scott in for Henley’s first try. With Titchener’s conversion good, followed shortly by a further penalty goal, the visitors took an 8-13 lead into the sheds at the end of the half.
Dorking were in the ascendancy in the second half both in the set piece and territorially but were unable to convert this into points as they continued to give away tackle and ruck penalties. And when they were in the red zone, the Henley defence was, as had been Dorking’s in the first half, equal to the task. So it was not until the 57th minute when Hardwick succeeded with a penalty shot at goal, followed five minutes later by a converted catch and drive try from Callum Watson following a 5 metre line out that they were able to level the scores and push on for the win.
The final quarter was played mostly in the Henley half but despite many attacking chances Dorking were unable to break the Henley defensive line; firm upfront tackling and strong counter rucking combined with, it has to be said a couple of unforced errors stopping these advances in their tracks, Finally as the clocked ticked over into the 80th minute Dorking had their opening - the ball was spun wide, first left and then right to put Tom Howe in with a the sniff of a chance, but as he dived for the line and the winning score a fine cover tackle from his opposite number bundled him into touch, and the match ended 13 apiece.
Director of Rugby Armand Roux commented:
It was simply one of those days where we simply could not get any momentum while managing our way through some injuries at the same time causing disruption.
Whether it was a stoppage in play or error on our behalf, Henley kept working under defensive pressure.
Massive credit for the Dorking team for clawing it back in the second half when nothing was going for them and to then be so unlucky not to convert the territory into points was heart breaking for us.
We know what we need to fix going into a tough couple of weeks so looking forward to getting out there and fixing a couple of things.
Teams:
Dorking:
Coyle, Hotston, O’Leary-Blade, Barrett, Howe, Hardwick, Falloon, Stephenson, Head, Barry, Sammut, Howorth, Bird, Elbrow, Scholes (c). Replacements - Watson, Bristow, King, Chambers, Sanders.
Henley:
Wood, Scott, Jones, Leach, Gordon, Kitchener, Webb, Bailey, Heyhoe (c), Adablah, Goodison, Elsie, Basil, White, Lunnon. Replacements- Fakatou, Kinneburgh, Benning, White, McRae
Star Man - Calum Barrett (Dorking)
Scores:
Dorking
Tries - Howe (19), Watson (60)
Conversion - Hardwick (61)
Pens – Hardwick (57)
Henley
Tries – Scott (33)
Conversion - Titchener (34)
Pens Titchener (17), (39)
Referee: Mr Alex Rose
Attendance 610
