Tonbridge Juddians 45 – 31 Dorking
Judds take the spoils in season opener at The Slade – A Game of Two Halves.
By Kevin Beal
Two sides with eyes on the top slot wouldn’t necessarily have chosen to play each other in the season opener, however the fixture Gods decreed it so and thus the Dorking Caravan set off round the M25 to the High Weald of Kent to face a rejuvenated TJ side buoyed with 9 new signings and very much aspiring to play Nat 1 rugby next season. With pretty much the same personnel as last season, but with only 1 pre-season fixture under their belt, the Dorking faithful weren’t too sure how to call it, but from the off it was apparent that a ‘hard day at the office’ was in store.
TJ’s came out of the blocks with intent and their forwards were soon taking control of the game, feeding quality ball to the backs as Dorking, starved of possession struggled to get going. On the back foot for the opening salvoes, both forwards and backs looked out of sorts as TJ’s Worthing import Curtis Barnes crossed the line in the bottom left hand corner for the first try of the afternoon, with barely 10 minutes on the clock. With the conversion missed it was 5-0. TJ’s collected the re start but in the ensuing ruck knocked the ball on. A secure Dorking scrum led to Toby McRae breaking for the TJ line, only to be called back for a foot in touch and a TJ throw in, from which they set up an attacking field position and a further line out. With the ball spinning wide, full back Howard Packman came into the line, created the overlap and touched down for the second score of the afternoon, converted giving a comfortable looking 12-0 lead, followed shortly by a penalty goal, 15 - 0. A rare Dorking foray into the TJ half was rewarded with a penalty, slotted by Henry Anscombe, but from the kick off TJ’s regained the ball as Dorking hands seemed unable hold onto the ball and Barnes pounced for his second, converted taking the score out to 22-3.
Nothing seemed to be going right for the visitors, with a flurry of handling errors, wayward kicking and penalties giving possession back to the home side, and it was only a matter of time before they crossed the whitewash again, this time a second, converted, for full back Packman. 29-3. Dorking finally got their hands on the ball, and moved the play up into the TJ’s half where following a turnover lineout and penalty, Toby McRae burst through the midfield to touch down just right of the posts. With Anscombe’s conversion good it was 29 – 10. There was just enough time left in the half for TJ’s pack to mount a catch & drive attack, stopped just short of the line, illegally it turned out reducing Dorking to 14 men.
29-10 Half Time.
Dorking restarted the game, playing what looked like marginally downhill, looking to make amends and almost immediately succumbed to another TJ score as Barnes collected Tom White’s kick through to claim his hat trick. With the conversion good the score moved out to 36-10, but the Dorking fortunes were about to change as from an attacking line out on TJ’s 10 m line, Toby McRae ran an identical line unopposed through the TJ midfield defence to score his second, again converted. 36-17.
This seemed to galvanise the Dorking side who began to string together moves with the backline, in particular Tom Howe, looking adventurous with the ball in hand and the forwards winning and retaining quality ball. Pressurising the TJ line with a succession of pick and drives the pack rumbled over and Sir (Ma’am) awarded a penalty try followed by a yellow card for TJ’s miscreant. 36-24. With the extra man Dorking looked to add to their tally but despite a flurry of attacking forward drives and backline moves, a succession of penalties against them saw TJs add an additional 9 points through the boot of White before Finn Osborne, emulating McRae burst through the midfield untouched for the consolation bonus point try. 45-31. And despite further attacking forays from both sides, that’s how the score remained.
DoR Armand Roux Commented:
“TJ’s came out of the blocks really well and their pressure manifested itself with some unforced errors by us. So credit where it’s due.
I always knew that while we were dealing with the current onslaught and that we would start to find momentum eventually. We simply left ourselves with too much to do in the second half and even though the effort was valiant, only one league point to show for it.
There were indeed some positives and the nature of league rugby means we need to adapt fast and move forward faster
Amazing traveling support as always. Thank you”
Teams:
Tonbridge Juddian:
Packman, Hollister, Tout, Sims, Barnes, White, Walsh©, Whitmarsh, Holling, Bratton, Self, Merrick, Sullivan, Everitt, Duaibe. Replacements – Clark, Boon, Culverhouse, Lloyd, Evans
Dorking:
Andressen, Hotston, Howe, Anscombe, McRae, Holland, Jackson, Birch, Ellis, Sheldrake, Howorth, King, Burroughs, Elbrow, Osborne. Replacements - Stephenson, Connor, Musa, Golder, Hardwick
Referee: Rebecca Piddlesden
