Dorking 1st XV 55 – 5 Tring 1st XV
By Kevin Beal
At the third time of asking the Dorking v Tring fixture was finally played; an outbreak of hand, foot & mouth at the aptly named Cow Lane having scuppered the first attempt back in September, and the omicron variant of covid the second, a week before Christmas.
With the Tring contingent registering their continuing displeasure at the RFU’s sanctions over the first cancellation by declining to attend, the supporting crowd, rather like the game was somewhat one sided. A shame, as close matches, touchline banter and post-match discussion over a few beers are all part of the afternoon.
Dorking kicked off the first half playing downhill and ran into stiff Tring defence. For 25 minutes the game ebbed and flowed mainly between the respective 22 metre lines with both sets of players unable to make much of a dent in the defences of the other and neither side seemingly able to gain advantage with a gusting wind making something of a lottery out of the kicking, and on occasion line outs. From a Dorking perspective the game came to life on the half hour mark as no 2 Jonny Ellis crashed over after successive pick and drives from the pack for a typical front row try. The conversion, out wide was well taken by Matt Noble. 7-0 Dorking. The final 10 minutes of the first half were very much Dorking’s with the forwards in ascendancy and the backs cutting loose as the opposition began to tire. Two more well worked tries for Henry Anscombe and Cam Cowell in quick succession plus a penalty from Matt Noble made it 22- 0 at the break.
The second half started in much the same vein as the first, however the deadlock was broken after 15 minutes as Dorking 6 Joel Grant snuffed out a Tring attack, turned the ball over on the Dorking 22, slipped the ball to Jonny Ellis who rather than take the ball into contact, as one would expect from a member of the front row union, executed a perfectly weighted kick upfield for the back line to chase. From the base of the resulting ruck, No 8 Tyler Norwood collected the ball and drove over for Dorking’s 4th and bonus point try, again converted by Matt Noble. 29 - 0
The comfortable lead emboldened the red & whites to play a more expansive game from then on. From the kick off the ball was collected by Daragh Chambers and spun quickly down the back line allowing Cam Cowell to claim his second of the afternoon out wide. Conversion missed, taking the score to 34 – 0. Attacking straight from the kick off once more, Dorking again pressed the Tring defences, however a mistake in communication led to an easy turnover and a quality try for Tring full back Ben Criddle in the right hand corner. Conversion missed, 34 – 5. From then on as the Tring team tired, Dorking took control with the forwards giving the backs a steady supply of quick ball to run around the pitch. Three more converted tries resulted, with Fred Dalton (one) and Louis Flynn (two) crossing the whitewash taking the final score to 55 – 5.
DoR Armand roux commented:
“Pleased with today’s performance and it was the way in which we scored our points which was very good to see.
We knew that we would need to stay patient and persistent in our approach, so credit to the team for sticking to strategy and keeping the pressure on Tring who defended very well.
Yes, there are a few things we would need to go away and look at, but you cannot knock the team beating rivals Tring by 50 points in a league game.
Next week we see Havant back at the big field, and looking forward to a cracking return fixture.”
Team: Charlie Connor, Jonny Ellis, James Catton, Daragh Chambers, Steve Howorth, Joel Grant, Fred Dalton, Tyler Norwood, George Jackson, Henry Anscombe, Ryan Jeffery, Fraser Macdonald, Matt Noble ©, Louis Flynn, Cam Cowell, Tom Bristow, Tom Chave, Fraser Mosley
