After the sloping pitch of Guildfordian’s London Road last week, the Exiles (U15s) welcomed Dorking to the sloping pitch of the Meads. Our second league match in as many weeks saw something of changed squad with injuries and last minute calls offs requiring positional changes; so we were curious as to how that players would fare.

Kicking off, Chipstead sent the ball deep into the Dorking half and set off in pursuit. After three minutes Chipstead were in the points with a converted try (7-0). Dorking’s reply was not long coming with a steady progression down into the Exiles’ territory being rewarded after eight minutes with a converted try (7-7). Dorking also nailed a well taken penalty inside the Exiles' 22; so by the end of the first quarter it was the visitors who held a lead (7-10).

The second quarter was period of repeated Exiles’ pressure using the pace of the backs to run in a series of tries after 15 minutes (12-10), after twenty minutes (19-10) and just before the half time whistle (26-10). Don’t make the mistake however of thinking that these tries were easily gained or that the Dorking defence was overly porous; Chipstead had to work hard to create the platform and commit the Dorking players to open up the space for the Exiles’ back play to come to the fore.

Dorking came out strongly in the second half and pressure created the opportunity to narrow the deficit after five minutes; on this occasion the try not being converted (26-15). Chipstead’s defence was kept busy; but we also continued to build opportunities, with another try after twelve minutes (31-15). Dorking then had one of their best periods of sustained pressure, spending many minutes camped along the Chipstead five metre line with a series of scrums and penalties. A resulting yellow card against Chipstead brought our numbers down to 14, but the Exiles’ defence held and we were eventually able to clear our lines.

Indeed the final passage of play saw Chipstead get back into the visitor's half and, working off a series of rolling mails and rucks, go over for the final try of the game (36-15).

At this stage of the match, with only a couple of minutes left, attention was drawn to a prone Dorking player; and, once it was evident that the player was not going anywhere in a hurry, the referee brought the game to a close. Big shout out to Simeon who went into full osteopath mode and stayed with the player for a good 20-30 minutes until he was passed good to move from the pitch.

So how to summarise the match. Candidly it was something of a scrappy affair, and certainly not the prettiest game of rugby we’ve seen. Both teams seemed to struggle with the concept of keeping the ball in the scrum rather than pinging it straight back out the tunnel to the scrum half. Lineouts were fairly effective by both teams and the lifting - no contest rule seems to be well embedded. On sufficient occasions though quality play did emerge from both sides with good hands and positional awareness opening up opportunities; some exploited, some squandered.

Yet again this was a whole squad performance from the Exiles with each player stepping up and being able to adapt to unfamiliar playing positions and providing the resolution in defence that created the platform for points. Thanks to Nick for officiating, to the Dorking parents and coaches for the vocal contribution from the touchlines; and specifically a big thank you to the players of Dorking for the competition. And finally best wished to the Dorking player who was injured at the end; we wish you a speedy recovery.