Pre Season Friendly
Dorking 7 – 52 Richmond
By Kevin Beal
Dorking struggled to match the pace and intensity of Richmond as they ran in 8 tries to 1 at The Big Field. The visitor’s superior firepower up front and line speed in both attack and defence left the Red & Whites on the back foot for most of the game with little reward to show for their afternoon’s work.
Richmond opened the scoring on the18 minute mark as new signing no 8 Pim crashed over following a 5m attacking scrum. Two tries in quick succession shortly before half time as the Richmond pack took control of the game meant that Dorking were facing an uphill struggle until winger McRae collected the ball in midfield and muscled his way to the line for a converted try. But Richmond were quick to strike back on the stroke of half time as they turned over a Dorking attack in midfield and with the Dorking back line out of position, created a three man overlap for Wills to touch down by the posts.
HT 7-26
Playing with the slope in the second half Dorking continued to run the ball and new signings Coyle and Stephens injected additional pace but could do little to make an impression on the game as the rush defence of Richmond’s back line continued to shut down the Red & White’s options. As both sets of players tired in the heat handling errors crept in and the game became somewhat stop-start creating chanced for both sides, it was Richmond who took their chances better scoring a further four tries. Dorking, to their credit never stopped trying and very nearly finished the game with a late consolation try as Stephens broke clear and dabbed the ball through for the chasing McRae, only for the ball to bounce agonisingly out of his reach over the line.
Director of Rugby, Armand Roux had the following to say:
"It is what pre-season is about and no point in playing teams that might roll over. We need to challenge ourselves and look at keeping our minds and bodies developing. Richmond played well and really showed their class today. They took their opportunities well.
With the lens on us, we learned a fair bit today and know that half of the Richmond tries could have been avoided with some improved speed of thought and execution. We had some good pockets of play today, and if we managed to recycle the ball better and win some more set piece then I am sure we would have seen a slightly changed scoreboard.
I am proud of the application shown throughout by squad with some good positivity and never die attitude."
Teams:
Dorking: Andresen, Hotston, Howe, Anscombe, McRae, Holland, Jackson, Birch, Watson, Bristow, Howorth, King, Chambers, Burroughs, Osborne. Replacements: Sheldrake, Stephenson, Maguire, Gwyther, Hardwick, Coyle, Stephens, Baldwin, Rennles
Richmond: Grieve, Omeara, Case, Massey, Obonna, Burrage, Schwarz, Bevacqua, Torpey, Spring, Nugent, Monson, Benson, Saysell, Pim. Replcements: Goffey,, Murray, Freeman, Murphy, Schmid, Wills, Marsh, Dennett, Smith
Referee: Mr Adam Wookey
