Barnes 23 – 18 Dorking
Barnes take it at the death (again)
By Kevin Beal
It was the usual tight game between these old rivals up at Barn Elms, and on a drying pitch with a surprising and pleasing absence of goose droppings (apparently the migration from the neighbouring Wildfowl & Wetland’s Trust has yet to happen) the action was fast and furious; two tries apiece with the difference being one penalty goal and one conversion. Post match analysis showed that Barnes took all of their chances whilst Dorking squandered a couple of theirs. On such fine margins etc……
Dorking were caught napping at the start as a charged down clearance kick with their back line in attacking mode allowed Barnes winger Jaques Birch to slip through the defences in the corner with barely a minute on the clock. Capped with a fine touchline conversion from fly half William Nicholson, the home side were seven points up before anyone had really broken sweat.
Dorking were quickly on the attack from the restart with Harry Barker fielding the high ball and a monstrous 50-22 kick from Tom Hardwick giving an attacking line out. A quick ball off the top saw the backs in action but robust defence smothered the move and with a penalty for ‘holding on’, Barnes cleared their lines. Captain Scholes stole the subsequent line out but again the move came to naught and Barnes turned the ball over in the ruck, only to knock on in the process. Dorking scrum, and as was to become a feature of the afternoon, scrum penalty as the home side’s front row caved in.
The game then settled down as both sides looked for a chink of light in each other’s defence and play moved swiftly from 22 to 22. In these exchanges it would be fair to say that Dorking slightly held the upper hand with dominance in the set piece and line out, but a combination of stout defence and handling errors from both sides meant that the scoreboard was untroubled. It was not until the 24th minute that Dorking scored their first points, a penalty goal from the boot of Tom Hardwick as the Barnes backline was finally called ‘offside’.
The next ten minutes saw Dorking in the ascendancy. Scholes secured the ball at the re start and with the ball passing through quick hands, Sam Blade took his chance chipping the oncoming defence, regaining possession and sprinting for the line to score. With Hardwick’s conversion good the Red & Whites took a 7-10 lead, which following another purple passage of play became 7-15 as Nick Barry drove over from a 5m lineout. Barnes regrouped and stemmed the tide; strong defence forcing handling errors and turnover ball and as they pressed into the Dorking 22. One such foray led to a high tackle and a yellow card for Dorking’s Barry, and with the penalty directly under the posts, 3 points was a formality for kicker Nicholson.
10-15 at half time.
Barnes came out in the second half determined to take advantage of their numerical supremacy, and this they did with a well taken penalty shot at goal narrowing the gap to 2 points. But it was Dorking who continued to hold the upper hand with possession and a cross field kick from Tom Hardwick to the unmarked Harry Barker wide out right which looked to have him in the clear for a run to the line. Somehow the Barnes defence managed to get across and hold him up over the line for a goal line drop out, which rather set the tone for the rest of the match. A further Hardwick penalty restored the visitor’s five point lead before a lengthy stoppage for an injury to Barnes’ Arinze Okemuo, rather put things into perspective. We wish him all the best for a speedy recovery.
Nicholson cut the deficit back to two points with a further penalty goal, and from the restart Dorking retained the ball, won a penalty, 5m line out and set up a rolling maul which collapsed just short of the Barnes try line. Barry was adjudged to have infringed and was show a yellow card, and with this being his second of the day, a red. With numerical supremacy restored Barnes cleared their lines and moved into the Dorking 22, where they knocked on giving Dorking a scrum. The ball shot backwards out of the scrum into midfield where Barnes Iago Davies scooped it up and fed it to Giles Bromley-Martin to score under the posts. An easy conversion and a five point lead.
As the gloom descended, Dorking strove to regain the lead but were thwarted by a Barnes team with the scent of victory in their nostrils. A scrappy final few minutes ended as Dorking pinned in their 22 attempted to run the ball, but in the process knocked on in the tackle.
Final score Barnes 23 – 18 Dorking.
Director of Rugby Armand Roux commented
“It was one of those games where we simply could not convert when the opportunities presented itself.
We can question a lot of moments and decisions in the game, but if we are not being clinical, then we simply will not be on top at the final whistle.
The fight and resilience was there, the Set piece dominated with no reward and our defence was solid most of the time.
Barnes was clinical with the very few opportunities they had from our errors so credit where it’s due. We will go away regroup and come back fighting this next weekend for sure.
Big thank you to the traveling support”
Teams:
Barnes: Mcdermott, Birch, Henry, Bromley-Martin, Branfield, Nicholson, Davies, Kane, Robertshaw, Murray, Okemuo, Stanton, Spencer-Jones, Farquhar, Hill. Replacements: Musa, Kennison-Cook, Munro, Lodge, Crabtree
Dorking: Barker, Sanders, Hotston, Blade, Williamson, Hardwick, Falloon, Connor, Head, Barry, Sammut, King, Elbrow, Bird, Scholes © Replacements: Rawinson, Stephenson, Chambers, Howorth, Andresen
Referee; Miss Rebecca Piddlesden
