Bury St Edmunds 29-33 Dorking
Dorking Banish the ‘Bury Bogey’
By Kevin Beal
Dorking needed to be at the top of their game for this fixture, and a 1 hour delay on the road due to the closure of the M11 didn’t help the Red & White’s match pre match preparation. Winless against a very strong Bury club since 2016, the team had a massive point to prove as they ran out for a delayed start in front of a huge crowd, present not only to watch the game, but to also remember the 18 Bury club members who perished in the Paris air disaster of 3rd March 1974.
Dorking took the kick off and showed their intent from the start as they took the ball back into the Bury half and stayed there with robust forward drives supported by the back line moving the ball swiftly back and forth across the pitch. Bury’s defence held firm, repelling both forwards and backs moves with a water tight defence, until on the 5 minute mark with Dorking’s Will Sanders set to receive a the scoring pass out wide, Sir adjudged a deliberate knock on from the Bury 11 Harry Simpson and after deliberation with his assistant, awarded a penalty try to the visitors and a yellow card to Simpson. 0-7
From the kick off, and with ball in hand for the first time in the match Bury showed what a strong team they are as they strung phases of play together lead by their back row trio punching (not literally) through the Dorking defence and releasing a dangerous looking set of backs to create chances on both sides of the pitch. The visitors defence held firm, and the match stabilised in mid field with both teams’ attack and defence equal to the other, along with parity in the set piece. Dorking were unable to capitalise on their man advantage as Bury’s defence again held strong, and restored to full strength, the home team began to take the upper hand culminating in a fine try on the 21 minute mark out wide right for the returning Simpson, making up for his earlier misdemeanour. With Ben Penfold’s conversion good, it was all square at 7 points apiece.
Spurred on by the score and the large and vocal home crowd, Bury took control of the game for the rest of the half with Captain and man on the match Matthew Bursey leading the way. Camped on the Dorking line, the Bury forwards chose to ignore the unmarked backs out wide, opting to pick and go repeatedly, crossing the line several times but unable to ground the ball. Eventually the ball found it’s way to winger Samir Kharbouch who was able to round the defence to score. With Penfold’s conversion good, the home side took the lead 14-7.
The re-start saw more midfield play and a plethora of penalties against both sides, mainly for being offside, along with subsequent line outs, until varying the play, Bury’s hooker Archie Bourne opted for a quick tap and go from the half way line. With the Dorking defence unable to touch him for the first 10 metres, he was well into their 22 before Tom Howe was able to bring him down. But the stalemate had been broken and on the stroke of half time No 8 Ruariadh Williams crashed over for a converted score to give the home side a comfortable looking 21-7 lead at the break.
The second half started with Bury taking the kick and Dorking returning it for a line out on half way. A knock on in the back line by Bury gave Dorking an attacking scrum on the 10 m line, but the ball shot out of the side of the scrum and Bury somewhat fortuitously regained possession and mounted an attack up the right hand side of the field, which ended in a high tackle penalty and a yellow card for Dorking’s Fraser Mosley. Regaining the ball from the line out, Dorking moved the ball into the Bury half and pressured the Bury line. A collapsed rolling maul saw a yellow card for Bury’s 5 Benjamin Kelland, and as the Red & Whites continued to pressure the Bury line, a straight Red for Bury’s 8 Williams for foul play. 13 plays 14, and with the extra space on the field Toby McRae was free to go over in the corner. Henry Anscombe, having just arrived after sitting in stationary traffic on the closed M11 for a couple of hours put the conversion just wide, taking the score to 21-12.
Dorking then took control of the game. Charging runs from Finn Osborne, Jonny Ellis and Jasper King supported by an on fire Daragh Chambers kept the home side’s defence busy, but despite the extra man it was 20 minutes before they were able to trouble the scorer again as forward pressure was rewarded with a second penalty try and a second yellow, and thus a red for Bury’s Kelland. 21-19. In between the Bury back line, when they had the ball, still caused trouble with scything runs into the Dorking half requiring speedy cover defence from the Dorking back line.
With a two man advantage, Dorking’s grip on the game became much firmer, but Bury refused to give up and as the clock moved into the 70th minute, Penfold slotted a penalty to extend their lead to 5 points, 24-19. And with Dorking giving away another penalty at the re start and the clock ticking down it looked as if a battling Bury might just hold on. However it was not to be; the numerical advantage finally told as Toby McRae, free and unmarked out on his wing ran in two further converted tries to complete his hat trick giving Dorking a 33-19 lead. But the last shout went to Bury, as following a red card for Dorking’s Elbrow, Captain Bursey, in the final move of the game barrelled over for an unconverted try.
Final score Bury 29-33 Dorking.
Director of Rugby, Armand Roux commented:
“Amazing resilience shown considering all the disruptions we had arriving at the ground and with late changes to the squad because of Henry being stuck in traffic on M11 for 3 hours.
The passion and work rate was simply fantastic and staying calm with a tone of self-belief was apparent and I am super proud of our application today.
Yes, there were moments where we made some key errors but overall simply amazing result against a team that has caused us some heartbreak over the last 2 years.
It was a very special day for Bury and pleased that we could be part of that remembrance. I would like to thank Bury for being so accommodating with change of Kick off time alongside being great hosts“
Teams
Bury St Edmunds: Drury-Hawkins, Roper, Loose, Kharbouch, Simpson, Penfold, Christie, Robinson, Bourne, Cooper, Gregg-Pettit, Kelland, Bursey © ,Meyers, Williams. Replacements – McCartney, Geoffrey, Porteous, Russell, Gelderbloom
Man of the match – Matthew Bursey
Dorking: Hotston, McRae, Howe, Mosley, Holland, Jackson, Birch, Ellis ©, Bristow, Chambers, King, Grant, Bloomer, Osborne. Replacements- Anscombe, Musa, Connor, Stephenson, Elbrow.
Man of the match – Daragh Chambers
Referee: Mr Simon Waite
Photo Credit: Beanstalk Media
