Henley 36-41 Dorking
By Kevin Beal
Cocks hold out against a resurgent Hawks at Dry Leas
Dorking were forced to dig deep in the final quarter of this match as a resurgent Hawks side went for what, at 12-38 down and with 60 minutes played, looked like an impossible win. A flurry of injuries in the visitors back line meant that several players ended up in unfamiliar positions and the Hawks took full advantage of this to stage a comeback.
As befitting a fixture between these two well matched adversaries the opening salvoes saw neither side in the ascendency as both sets of forwards battled hard for possession and both sets of backs for territory, quarter neither being asked nor given. It was Dorking who finally broke the stalemate with a Tom Hardwick penalty after eight minutes, followed by a Cam Cowell try on fifteen minutes as Tom Bloomer turned the ball over in midfield, at the same time winning a penalty. From the resulting lineout the backs spun the ball quickly through the hands with Max Coyle stepping past his marker to put Cowell in the clear in the right hand corner. With Tom Hardwick on target again, Dorking were 10 points to the good. But not for long. Despite having good field position and a 5m lineout throw in, this promising position was squandered as the throw went overly long allowing a grateful Henley to clear their lines, set up an attack and eventually put Oliver Snook over the line for a converted try. 7-10.
Dorking stepped up the pressure, but despite having superiority in the set piece scrum, which eventually resulted in a YC for the Henley tight head prop, were unable to add to their tally until shortly before half time, when Max Coyle and then Theo Williamson both crossed the whitewash in quick succession. With both tries converted by Tom Hardwick, the Red & Whites took a comfortable looking lead into the changing room at half time, 7-24.
Dorking started the second half where they had left off. Jasper King and Will Scholes combined to steal a Henley line out, and the ball was passed fast and long down the line. Despite the protestations of ‘forward’ from the massed Henley supporters, the officials declined to intervene and Tom Bloomer touched down in the right hand corner to increase their lead, which with Hardwick adding the extras moved to 7-31. Henley were quick to respond and catching the visitors somewhat napping at the re-start, stole the ball to put flanker Liam Goodison over in the corner. An uncharacteristic Titchener miss meant that the deficit was only cut by 5 points, and with continued scrum ascendancy assuring quality possession, this was quickly reversed as Jasper King barrelled over following a 5m lineout catch and drive. With Hardwick on target again Dorking took a 12-38 lead into the final quarter. Game over surely……
But Henley had other ideas and as the Red & Whites were forced into several positional changes through injury, the home side ran hard and kicked long, scoring three unanswered tries through debutant Will Baildon, Leo Webb and George Wood, with Baildon converting two taking them to within two points of victory. Steadying the ship in the final minutes, Dorking played ‘keep ball’ and won a penalty within easy range for Hardwick, who duly slotted the ball between the uprights (100% record again Tom) for an additional 3 points and the welcome sound of the final whistle.
DoR Armand Roux Commented:
“We said we will take it 1 game at a time and certainly on that basis we take the 5 points on the road and move on.
We executed well for most of the game and some training ground targets hit in the game is always nice to see.
The pack was outstanding at scrum time and credit to all of them for buy in here.
We closed shop 20mins too early and allowed Henley to get their tails up and they certainly did not need an invitation to throw the ball around, as they were very clinical here. I for one already looking forward to the return fixture to put that right.
With the first block of games being 8 on the bounce, our focus changes to Canterbury at home next week”
Team
Cowell, Sanders, Coyle, Powell, Williamson, Hardwick, Jackson, Connor, Head, Barry, Sammut, King, Scholes © Bloomer, Elbrow, Chambers, Falloon, Bristow, Howorth, Watson
Star Player – Nick Barry
