Guernsey 8 - 6 Dorking

A FANTASTICALLY exciting finish in front of a big and vocal Garenne Stand crowd saw Dorking’s unbeaten record deservedly ended at Footes Lane.
There was collective relief and joy when the referee finally blew for time after an interminable amount of added time which frayed the nerves of the home support, not to mention the coaching staff.
Dorking, who were overpowered in the forwards, had a stoppage time kick from distance to nick the win, but thankfully the visiting fly-half pulled the effort just wide, although it had the legs to get over.
A score would have been incredibly tough on the 1st XV who were magnificent to a man and in the last quarter of the game were camped on the Dorking side for long periods, but could not press home their advantage.
Visiting fullback Andy Frost kicked Dorking into an early lead but gradually Jordan Reynolds’ ploy of playing the biggest pack available to him began to pay dividends.
Shane Taylor scored a great try and although Sam Whitehead failed to add the conversion he was soon to kick a penalty and the sides turned around with Guernsey 8-2 ahead.
Frost kicked a second pernalty early in the second.
Meanwhile, the Guernsey 2nds sailed to a massive 76-0 win over a St Jacques Development XV in a Bachmann Cup game which was historically the first on the new KGV 3G pitch.
Winger Dave Davison topped the try scorers list with three to his name from a total of 12.
Jason Batiste kicked seven conversions.
The full list of scorers was:
Davison 3, Merrien, Elliott, Rigden, Challinor 2, Batiste,
Ashplant, Morris, Murdoch.
Conversions: Batiste 7; Challinor 1.
The winning coach Mark Stone gave it an agreeable thumbs-up.
‘The surface has been really good and makes for a better game than the old one we have got. It’s certainly good for running rugby,’ he said after watching his team run in a dozen in total.
‘In terms of performance the 12 tries speaks for itself and it was great to be able to give young lads like Ashplant and Collenette a run out.’