Bury St Edmunds 42-43 Dorking
The Comeback Kings Ride Again
By Kevin Beal
It is said that repeated actions become habit forming, and not for the first time this season Dorking left it until late in the game to play their best rugby and overhaul an eighteen point deficit with the winning points taken in the final act of this pulsating game.
It’s 116 miles between Dorking and Bury St Edmunds Rugby Clubs, so the away match in deepest Suffolk is always a challenge. The stats show that Dorking have won 6 of the last 10 encounters, but Armand and the team were under no illusion that this would be one of the tougher encounters and memories of the fixture 2 years ago when a 25 point half time lead dissipated in the second half to a 47-44 loss were at the forefront of everyone’s minds.
It was not the most auspicious of starts as taking the kick off, Dorking infringed and gifted a penalty to the hosts, who immediately showed their intent to run the ball and catching the Dorking defence napping whipped the ball down their back line creating space for scrum half Will Metcalfe to dab down next to the posts for the first of his trio. With ‘Mr 100%’ Ben Penfold slotting the conversion Bury were 7-0 up as the clock ticked over to 2 minutes played. And then to compound the situation Dorking’s restart kick didn’t go 10 and from the ensuing set piece scrum they did the same, this time with winger Euan Rees the scorer. 14-0 with barely 5 minutes played.
Securing the ball legally this time at the restart the Dorking backs looked dangerous with the ball in hand, and despite giving up another penalty for obstructing the tackler, maintained possession of the ball post penalty to take play back into the Bury 22 where fly half Tom Hardwick dummied his opposite number to scamper through and score under the posts. Converting his try it was 14-7 and 7 minutes on the clock.
With the opening salvoes out of the way, the match settled down as both teams, willing to play open expansive rugby probed the other’s defences. A promising Dorking attack was snuffed out as Bury’s Rees intercepted what could have been a scoring pass, only to be hauled down in the Dorking 22 by debutant Theo Williamson, who looked sharp all afternoon. With no way through for either side with the ball in hand, both sets of half backs looked for territorial supremacy through the boot. A succession of line outs and storming runs from Will Scholes and Jasper King gave the visitors a further line out on the Bury 5m line and the resulting catch and drive had Tom Bloomer over the line for Dorking’s second, this time unconverted try out on the right wing. 14-12. In keeping with the tight nature of this fixture, Bury’s response was immediate and from a line out at the restart, they moved the ball swiftly out to Rees who was in for his second, and Bury’s third of the afternoon. With Penfold’s conversion good their lead clicked out to 7 points at 19-12.
With the Dorking set piece creaking under pressure from the Bury eight, the home side applied sustained pressure and despite break outs lead by Finn Osborne, supported by messrs Scholes, Musa and Bloomer, they kept the majority of the play in the Dorking half, with only first class defence keeping them out. Eventually however the pressure told and scrum half Metcalfe burrowed his way over for Bury’s fourth and bonus point try, again converted by Penfold, taking the score out to 28-12 as the clock crept towards half time. The final honours of the half belonged to Dorking, as they quickly replied with a catch and drive try from Adam Musa. With the conversion missed it was 28-17 at the half time whistle.
Dorking started the second half with intent as Osborne fielded the ball, made a good 20 meters and slipped the ball to Hardwick who kicked for territory for a line out on the Bury 22. With the throw not straight, the ensuing Dorking scrum, shored up by the presence of replacement Max Sheldrake gave secure ball and with Osborne finding space to run he shipped the ball out to Max Coyle. A clattering, and somewhat high tackle gave a penalty to the visitors, but with the subsequent line out lost it was Bury on the attack again, halted by a knock on. A further Dorking set piece scrum with the ball again slipped out to Coyle, once again brought to a halt by a crunching, but this time legal tackle gave Bury a set piece scrum from which their back line fashioned space for centre Samir Kharbouch to dive over for a popular try with the Bury supporters. And with Penfold adding the extras, Dorking were facing an eighteen point deficit.
The visitor’s fight back began two minutes later with a fine try from Finn Osborne after Luke Baldwin and Tom Hardwick combined to put him in the clear. With Hardwick’s conversion good, the deficit was reduced to 11 points 35-24. Bury were then forced to dig deep in defence as the red & whites ramped up the attack, but in taking chances spreading the ball wide they gave the home side opportunities of their own to turn the ball over and mount counter attacks. Handling errors from both sides slowed the game down somewhat, but Dorking now seemed to have the edge in the set piece and it was Bury’s scrum half who was forced to pick up quickly rather than chose his options at leisure.
On the attack in the Bury 22, a miss pass from a solid Dorking scrum gifted the ball back to Bury who cleared their lines to midway between the 10 and 22m lines. The Dorking line out, which had been solid all afternoon, chose this moment to malfunction and as Bury stole the ball a gap opened up and Metcalfe sped through untouched for his third of the afternoon. With Penfold’s conversion again on target the Bury lead increased to 18 points at 42-24, with 15 minutes to play. ‘That must be it’ was the consensus opinion amongst the Bury supporters.
However, this Dorking side doesn’t know how to give in, and invoking the spirit of games past (notably Havant) took the fight back to Bury. Firstly, Jasper King, disrupting and collecting the ball after a mix up in the Bury line out galloped a full 30 metres shrugging of tackles to touch down just right of the posts. Conversion by Hardwick, 42-31. Then Sheldrake, after sustained attacking pick and go pressure out wide left. Conversion missed. 42-36.
With the game now down to the final 5 minutes, Dorking continued to attack a tiring Bury defence. Desperate to keep play away from the Bury goal line, the experienced Penfold opted to pin play back in the Dorking half with howitzer like kicks, and Dorking, through Osborne, Coyle and Hardwick returned fire with interest. As the Dorking attacks mounted in intensity and Bury defended likewise, the clock ticked past the 40 minute mark. Dorking were awarded a penalty under the posts, but being 6 points adrift it wouldn’t be enough. Opting to kick to the corner for the line out (‘take a tap penalty, it’s closer to the posts’ was the informed wisdom amongst the visiting supporters from the comfort of the touchlines), the resulting catch and drive move wide out left looked like succeeding, only to be held up.
So the ball was spun down the line instead which created just enough space for Henry Anscombe to slip through the tiring line of green to touch down just left of the uprights. 42-41. And with Hardwick’s conversion good, 42-43 and the final whistle. Exhilaration or despair, depending upon the colour of your shirt.
DOR Armand Roux commented:
I’m pleased to have secured 5 points on the road and continue that away form. This team have a resilience and never say attitude, which is something we are all proud of.
Considering it has been almost a month since our last game against Barnes away there was always going to be a sense of rust as we kick off 2025. Bury was outstanding in the first quarter and credit has to go to them for their application in that part of the game and keeping the score board ticking over.
Yes we have a few areas to go and look at in both Attack and Defence, but for now simply pleased with the resolve of this tea to get the Win.
What great support making the 6 hour round trip to BSE too.
Teams:
Bury St Edmunds – Johnson, Affleck, Loose, Kharbouch, Rees, Penfold, Metcalfe, Robinson, McCartney, Cooper, Harrison, Kelland, Grigg-Pettit, Guy, Williams. Replacements – Stone, Carmichael-Fraser, Russell, Sams, Andrews.
Dorking- Coyle, Sanders, Hotston, Holland, Williamson, Baldwin, Bristow, Musa, Karimanzira, Chambers, King, Scholes ©, Bloomer, Osborne. Replacements -Rawlinson, Golder, Sheldrake, Howorth, Anscombe
Man of the match
Bury – George Loosemore
Dorking – Tom Hardwick
Referee – Mr Tom Bird
By Kevin Beal
