Surrey U21 Cup Final

There was even more good news for Dorking Rugby Club over the Easter break as the Club won the Surrey Under 21 Championship with a nail biting win over Sutton & Epsom in the final played in front of a large holiday crowd at Effingham’s Browns Lane ground. Playing with a stiff breeze Dorking had initially struggled to come to terms with the conditions and an extremely competitive Sutton side and fell two tries behind despite having the first benefit of the elements. Sutton were generally able to crowd out Dorking’s talented back division including Scottish international seventeen year old Ben Francis. Led magnificently by Skipper Ross Grimstone Dorking instead took control of the game through the efforts of a totally dominant pack and got back into the game with a close quarter try from Jake Cooper Woolley following incisive running from scrum half Will Crow and full back Sam Wilkinson. Adam Cooper hit the post with the conversion and failed with a couple of penalty shots leaving Dorking a converted score behind at the break. More power play by James Catton, Nick Haigh, Steve Mays  and Camberley Shaun eventually broke through Sutton’s stubborn resistance for Grimstone to release Ed Marsh to score. With Sutton bagging a penalty and Ryan Jeffrey on at fly half missing an otherwise straightforward conversion, Dorking went into the final five minutes still a score behind.

In a dramatic finale Cooper Woolley and Grimstone led one final charge for the silverware and Jeffreys made amends for his earlier shortcomings with the boot dancing through and bouncing off tiring defenders for the crucial score. Kicking duties were handed to the coolest man on the paddock and Durham University’s Marsh bisected the posts to take the trophy back to Brockham. Commenting on the game Squad Manager Stuart Catton said; “ A few sides cried off against us in the competition’s early rounds and we didn’t have our 1^st XV players available for the  semi final at Chipstead so it wasn’t a huge surprise we were a bit ring rusty. We also came up against a Sutton side playing out of their skins and with some extremely talented players. So all in all we are delighted to have taken the title and have done so by playing a wide range of players and age groups in line with the ethos of this competition.”

Squad: Sam Wilkinson, Rob Chave, Ben Francis, Ed Marsh, James Gaymer, Adam Cooper, Will Crow, Robbie Fee, Ross Grimstone, Luke Davis, Nick Haigh, Jake Dobson, Jake Cooper Woolley, James Catton, Shaun Olayanjo, Ryan Jeffrey, Will Randall, Steve Mays, George Spreckley, Tom Hunt, Ali Davies, Euan Lllewelyn, Richard Lardner, Harry Shepherd, Daniel Rodrigues, Jonny Stephens, Stuart Watkins

Dorking Rugby Football Club Ltd, The Pavilion, The Big Field, Brockham, Surrey RH3 7LZ    ( 01737 844282