Dorking 36- 26 Old Albanian
By Kevin Beal
Plenty has already been said about how a certain England star on duty in Cardiff today helped OA’s win on their last visit to The Big Field giving them a clean sweep of results over the Red & Whites, and having won away by 10 points earlier in the season in St Albans (not Albania as some touchline wags would have it), the Red & Whites were looking to make it two from two themselves this season. A first half flurry of five tries, three from try machine Toby McRae, one by Cam Osborne and one by Captain Fred Dalton sealed the match as Dorking ran out 36-26 winners in a hard fought encounter as Old Albanians came back to within one score with two well worked tries in the second half, with only a 40th minute Henry Anscombe penalty from Dorking denying them a losing bonus point.
In a game of two halves, the Dorking forwards took control from the off stealing the first OA line out. With Messrs Birch, Ellis and Bristow giving their opposite front row numbers some flying lessons in the first set piece scrum, and a steady supply of quick ball through combative pick and drives, Dorking were camped in the OA’s half. McRae’s first try after 11 minutes came as a result of this pressure, followed by his second under the posts on the 15 minute mark through a training ground miss – move in the backs. In a carbon copy of the match earlier in the season, OA’s replied with a fine solo try from centre Alex Noot which he converted, showing what a dangerous unit they could be if left unchecked. Dorking came straight back with Cam Osborne winning the footrace to score under the posts as Andrew Ramsden was hauled down after hacking through a loose ball. The half ended with a 38th minute OA try from Kemp Price, converted by Thomas and a 40th minute pick and drive try from Dorking’s Fred Dalton. With Henry Anscombe converting successfully on 4 out of 5 occasions for Dorking it was 33-14 at half time.
The second half was as scrappy as the first had been exhilarating with errors creeping into both side’s play as they tried to find a way through each other’s tight defences. With ball in hand the OA back line looked threatening and only some last ditch tackling, combined with the odd forward / mistimed pass prevented further scores. The Dorking pack were still having the better of the exchanges in the set piece and loose play creating chances, but with several scoring opportunities being denied as they pinned OA’s back in their 5m line, the scoreboard remained untroubled. Robust OA defence eventually drew a penalty, and it was Dorking’s turn to go on the defensive as they cleared their lines and a rejuvenated OA pack hammered away with pick and drives of their own inside the Dorking 5m line. A close range try on the 62 minute mark out wide from hooker John Kenward remained unconverted and as the OA back line went on the offensive, the game began to turn their way. Following a high tackle and some ‘afters’ resulting in 2 Dorking and 1 OA player being invited to leave the field, OA’s Elliott McPhun slipped through a gap in the Dorking defence to score under the posts. With the numerical advantage but time running out, McPhun quickly converted his try with a drop goal to get the game restarted but a penalty for holding on following the re-start saw Dorking’s Anscombe’s run down the clock, kick the points and secure the win for Dorking.
Director of Rugby Armand Roux commented:
It was not all pretty, but we got the job done. We had to manage the game well today due to the cold wind, very low sun and slope in second half.
So much maturity shown by the team, as in the past we would continue chasing the points even tho we are in the lead, and against the conditions. Today we managed to use our strengths at the right time to ensure we maintain our lead.
OA’s played some cracking rugby and full credit to them for pushing us all the way to the last play.
Scorers:
Dorking:
Tries: McRae (3) 11, 15, 30. Osborne C, 34. Dalton 40
Conversions: Anscombe (4) 16, 31, 35, 41
Penalties: Anscombe 80
Old Albanian:
Tries: Thomas 26. Price 38, Kenwood 62, Noot 76
Conversions: Thomas (2) 27, 39 Noot (1) 77
Star Man: Henry Anscombe, with special mention to ‘Flight Instructor’ Henry Birch
Teams:
Dorking:
- McDonald, Michael 14. Osborne, Cam, 13. Mosley, Fraser 12. Anscombe, Henry 11. MacRae, Toby 10. Ramsden, Andrew 9. Jackson, George 1. Birch, Henry 2. Ellis, Jonny 3. Bristow, Tom, 4. Scholes, Will 5. King, Jasper 6. Grant Joel 7. Dalton, Fred (c) 8. Osborne, Finn
Replacements: 16. Catton, James 17. Sheldrake, Max 25. Chambers, Daragh 18. Mahoney, Harry 20. Jeffery, Ryan
Old Albanian:
- Nurse, Andrew 14. Thomas, Bailey 13. Noot, Alex 12. Sage, Jarryd 11. Evans, Jordan 10. McPhun, Elliott 9. Southcombe, Nigel 1. Ramzanpoor, Matthew 2. Kenward, John 3. Chamnaoul, Zaki 4. Verley, Rhys 5. Illston, Ashley (c) 6. Alexander, Ben, 7. Price, Kemp 8. Michelow, Nathan
Replacements:16. Harris, Matthew 17. North, Stefan 18. Aluanya, Chukwuemwka 19. Chamock, Benjamin 20. Brown, Oliver
Referee: Phil Russell
Attendance 465
