On a soft pitch in calm conditions, this exhilarating match stayed level for half an hour until Dorking pressurised Colchester’s tryline to gain a penalty try. The Blacks fought back but their two tries towards the end of the game were not enough to overtake Dorking’s further scores and the visitors from Essex were defeated.

This was disappointing for Colchester who competed well against a well-drilled mid-table side and the result means that they remain second from bottom in the league.

Colchester’s pack was unchanged with the exception of Joe Beckett who came in at short notice to play on the flank. Newcomer Te Albert joined fellow Kiwi Brandon Fanolua to strengthen the centre.

Both teams exchanged successful penalties in the first half hour as the teams sounded each other out. Dorking’s flyhalf Matt Noble and centre Ed Marsh were prominent in the backs as were Colchester’s scrum half Matt Wadling and fullback Damien Brambley.
Later, after a period of pressure from the home forwards, Dorking earned a penalty try just before half time bringing the score to 10-3.
From the restart Dorking moved the ball left to winger Cameron Osborne but Joe Flexman, his opposite number, bundled him into touch, a feat that was repeated later. Not long after this, Dorking earned a penalty ten metres out. The tapped ball was moved to prop Ben Knight who went over increase the lead to 15-3.

Later Colchester’s left wing James Crozier was yellow carded for a trip and the Blacks were down to 14 men for ten minutes but, as so often happens, raised their game and battled hard until he returned. But they were giving away too many penalties and from one such Dorking chose to scrummage. Scrum half Zach Woodcock fed Marsh who offloaded to another back who scored a converted try in the corner. Shortly after this a Dorking forward, having already received a yellow card for a foul, received a red card from the referee for offending again and the home side had to play out the game one man short.

From Tom Miller’s restart, in their turn, Colchester ramped up the pressure. Their back row of Danny Whiteman, Ethan Hughes and Beckett worked hard to win ruck and maul ball. Hooker Charlie Thorogood played well in both the tight and the loose and it was his tackle that earned Colchester a penalty in Dorking’s half. The tapped ball was quickly moved to Fanolua to score the first of his two tries.
Dorking came back from the restart and before long Noble added to his tally with a penalty. At 25-8 many teams would have thrown in the towel but not Colchester. With time running out they attacked the home tryline through Brambley who scooted past several defenders before offloading to Fanolua for his second try that Crozier converted to finish the a game that enthrawled the large crowd of supporters.