The visitors denied Combe a losing bonus point with a try in the last minute but the home side could rue lost opportunities when playing against 12 men.

Dorking led narrowly at the half time whistle in a closely fought first period. The visitors were first to score when winger Toby McRae hit the first of his hat-trick on 5 minutes with quick transition from defence to attack when play broke down in the Combe half. A Henry Anscombe conversion made it 0-7.

Combe’s Raf Dutta turned up on the wing to run in a try for the hosts after full back Ollie Burkett broke through the Dorking defence but McRae touched down for his second soon after following clean line-out ball with the Anscombe conversion making it 5-14. Combe’s hooker Taine Wagstaff narrowed the gap to 12-14 at the back of a powerful line-out drive from the home side with a try converted by Nathan Wyman.

The competitive nature of the game continued when Bryan Hotson scored for the visitors taking advantage of a looped pass that out-flanked the home defence making it 12-14. Combe’s Wagstaff claimed his second try at the back of another Combe line-out drive to make the half time score 19-21 to Dorking.

The second period was marked by a sequence of yellow cards for Dorking the visitors going down to 12 players at one point, but Combe managed only the one score on 65 minutes through centre Tom Burman. The Wyman conversion gave Combe the lead for the first time at 26-21. Dorking’s aggressive defence had been a point of note all afternoon and this period underlined the impact it had on the result.

On 68 minutes McRae completed a fine hat-trick levelling the scores at 26 all. Dorking edged ahead on 75 minutes exploiting space out wide, the conversion giving them a 26-33 advantage. A red card to Dorking gave Combe the opportunity to hit back and replacement Frank Kitchen duly obliged making it 31-33.

But Combe were denied a bonus point when Dorking showed the drive which keeps them challenging at the top of the league with a converted score at the death from Tyler Norwood converted by Anscombe.

A good advert for attacking Rugby and Combe face another stern test as they travel down the A21 to meet old rivals and league leaders Tonbridge Juddians next Saturday.