Dorking 42 – 26 Colchester
By Kevin Beal
With Colchester fresh off of their win away in Guernsey and Dorking fresh off of a home defeat by Old Albanians, Dorking were under no illusions that this 3rd v 13th placed in the league would be an easy contest. Scoring seven tries to four in another end to end game, Dorking eventually ran out comfortable winners, and with both sides neither asking nor giving quarter this was, despite the card count, a clean hard fought contest that could have gone either way.
Dorking were first on the score sheet through Theo Williamson as Finn Osborne captured the ball from the kick off and made 30 metres before being brought to ground. Offloading the ball to the support, quick hands down the line meant an untroubled run in for the winger. 5-0 with 2 minutes on the clock. Colchester replied immediately as from the re start Ross Taylor scythed through a gap in the home side’s defence to score under the posts and with Gabe Jones’ conversion they were 5 – 7 up. Dorking then scored three tries in quick succession to give them a lead that they were never to relinquish, although they did try hard!!. Firstly from Tom Howe, on the end of a reverse pass flip from Tom Hardwick just as it looked as if the move was snuffed out short, then Craig Holland, on the end of a training park backs move, and finally Will Scholes, in under the posts, again following a training park backs move. With two converted by Craig Holland this gave Dorking a 24-7 with barely fifteen minutes played. Retaining the ball from the re-start, Dorking looked to move back into the Colchester half, but the promising move was snuffed out by a fumble, gifting possession back to the visitors. Sensing that the game was slipping away they redoubled their efforts, and began to string together some attacks of their own led by No 8 Ashton Webb, pressuring the Dorking defence and drawing a couple of penalties. With both possession and territory it was only a matter of time before after a well taken catch & drive lineout, Rousseaux rumbled over for his first, unconverted try. Dorking then contrived to even things up as 2 yellow cards for Adam Musa and Will Scholes took them down to 14 and then 13 players in the face of concerted Colchester attacking moves, but ultimately their defence held firm and it was 24-12 at half time.
With two men still in the ‘bin’, the second half started badly for the hosts as Rousseaux went over for his second, converted, before very much against the run of play Williamson intercepted what looked like a promising Colchester move to streak away unopposed up his wing to score next to the posts. With Musa back on, Dorking looked to resume their pattern of attacks only for Tom Bloomer to be carded for not rolling away in the ruck, and Steve Howorth to see red for a high tackle. From the penalty and line out, Colchester’s Jacob Bodkin glided through the now unmarked space in the defence to score, and with Jones’ conversion good the Dorking lead was reduced to 3.
With the returning Bloomer carded a second time Dorking were reduced permanently to 13 players, and frankly the outlook was bleak. But Colchester were tiring and as a result started to give away a few penalties of their own, allowing Dorking to retain possession and keep play in Colchester territory. The Dorking set piece scrum, which had been immense all afternoon began to turn the screw and despite depleted numbers this enabled the backline to move the ball around the park which in turn stretched the Colchester defence, yielding further penalties. A promising break from Musa ended as the Colchester scrum half Parry brought him down illegally, knocking himself out and earning a red card in the process. Opting for a scrum rather than a kick to touch and line out, the ball was won quickly and cleanly and fed out to Hotston who was over in the corner. 34-26.
A Dorking penalty at the restart allowed them to move back into Colchester territory, again with the backline to the fore until a missed pass and fumble gave scrum possession back to the visitors. A massive scrum and take against the head won possession back and the ball was quickly moved out wide to Max Coyle for the short sprint to the line and the final try of the game. 39-26, with 6 minutes to play. Time enough for Colchester to even the numbers with another yellow card for holding on, and for Tom Hardwick to slot the penalty goal to seal the match.
Director of Rugby Armand Roux commented:
That game really tested our composure and resilience as we were down to 13/14 men for more 40 mins of that game. It was a tough situation to manage and credit to the leaders for stepping up
I thought Colchester played some good rugby and defended really well.
There were some cracking tries and great defensive efforts on display so we will reflect on the bits that did not go to plan and focus on Sevenoaks.
Reflecting over the last few weeks, we got the Job done. 5 Points at home in challenging circumstances is all we can ask for.
Scoring:
Dorking-
Tries: Williamson 2 & 47, Howe 7, Hardwick 10, Scholes 16, Hotston 72, Coyle 76
Conversions: 11, 17
Pen: Hardwick 78
Colchester:
Tries: Taylor5, Rousseaux 25 & 25, Bodkin 52
Conversions: Jones 6, 46, 53
Teams:
Dorking
Coyle, Hotston, Howe, Holland, Williamson, Hardwick, Jackson, Bristow, Musa, Stephenson, Howorth, Scholes (c), Elbrow, Bloomer, Osborne. Replacements- Rawlinson, Sheldrake, Golder, Chambers, Cowell
Colchester:
Martin, O’Reilly, Bodkin, Blakemore, Taylor, Jones, Parry, C Jeffery, Rousseau, L Jeffery, Sykes, Friend, Kerr, Whiteman (c), Webb. Replacements- Marsters, O’Neill, Brock, Liversidge, Creighton
Referee: Mr Conor Boyle
Star Man – Max Coyle (Dorking)
Attendance 376
