A reversed penalty deep in the Combe danger zone gave Dorking a three-point win. That Combe returned to Goddington Dene with 2 bonus points was some consolation from a match that pulsated from start to finish. The match featured 12 tries shared equally between two evenly matched sides with Dorking’s Hardwick sealing the win with that last minute penalty.

Combe started brightly, Toby Wallace scoring as early as the second minute finishing off a scintillating backs’ move from a quickly taken line-out. 10 minutes later the visitors went further ahead when a grubber kick was touched down by Ben Fryatt. With both tries converted the score was 14-0. But Dorking hit back immediately Callum Barrett scoring under the posts only for Westcombe park to respond immediately, flanker Cai Devine dotting down in a similar fashion. The tit for tat nature of the match continued, Sam O’Leary Blade finishing off a Dorking backs’ move to make it 21-14.

Combe got their bonus point try when captain Nick Cook scored to silence the Dorking faithful for a time, but Combe went down to 14 men for illegally disrupting a home line out and Dorking took advantage to score through Scholes from an attacking line-out. With half-time fast approaching the visitors went for a catch and drive for Sam Fombo to touch down and Mikel Davies converted to maintain his 100% record from the kicking tee.
But another yellow card to Westcombe Park for multiple offences reduced them to 14 players once more and on the cusp of the interval Coyle’s try and Hardwick’s conversion reduced the gap to 7 points

The home side returned to the fray looking to build on that try and they were quick to do so, intercepting a promising Combe attack for George Jackson to score making it all square at 35 points. The visitors’ discipline continued to put them at a disadvantage and a third yellow card reduced Westcombe Park to thirteen players for a period. When back up to 14 on the pitch Combe’s Mikel Davies scored in the corner but the tricky conversion went wide.
There were tired bodies around the pitch and, when a Combe clearing kick was run back by Will Sanders, Dorking scored in the corner to level the match

Dorking had most of the pressure in the closing 10 minutes, but the visiting defence stood firm. A Dorking scrum in the Combe 22 looked to have been thwarted when Combe won a penalty, but a reversal of the referee’s decision gave Hardwick an easy kick in front of the posts to give the Big Field side the lead for the first time and the victory.

As blood pressure subsides all can reflect on a great advert for the quality of Rugby at this level and look forward to future close encounters!

A long break now for Easter until Combe welcome promotion challenging Old Albanian to Goddington Dene on 11 April.