The cold weather over the last few days meant there was some doubt about the fixture, but by 11 o'clock the pitch was completely playable. We were very happy to welcome Dorking to play us at fairly short notice after Guildford had pulled out, and the game was to be a great one to watch; even, fiercely but fairly contested, and a very high standard for a B game. The game had hardly started when Alex "nosebleed" Browning had to come off for the usual reason and miss the first half. As he was able to come out for the second half, I have now devised a drastic but effective solution. In future, at about 10:30 I will be looking for a volunteer to punch him in the face. After Carol has sorted him out, he should be good to go by kickoff time :).

Dorking started the game more strongly, and early on there were some missed tackles which were precursors of the two tries we were to ship later on. There was some resolute defence however, with Dom Bellenger, Matt Shaw and George Batchelor particularly prominent. Pressure was relieved on several occasions by some great kicks from Max Tomlinson, and as Wimbledon came more into the match we won a good series of rucks which took us well into the Dorking half. Cameron Wilkinson combined well with Alex Paul in some of our best attacking moves, and Louis Hogan and Matt Shaw both gained ground with some strong runs. However Dorking pushed us back, and we were on the wrong end of 5 yard scrums on more than one occasion. That Dorking did not score was down to some great defending, with Elliot Phillips having probably his best game in a Wimbledon shirt, and Matt Rogers putting himself in the firing line to stop the Dorking runnner from one of their penalties. After another fine clearing kick from Max, James Jenkinson made a very enthusiastic chase but fell foul off the offside rule. We were now in the Dorking half, and James Waghorn was very unlucky to be fingertips away from an interception that would have given him a certain try. A lineout 5 yards from the Dorking line looked certain to result in a try when Matt Rogers caught the ball and the pack started to drive him over the line, but the ball was unfortunately lost. The pressure did tell just before the whistle when Louis Hogan made a break down our left wing and ran in under the posts. The unconverted try put us 5-0 up at half time.

The second half began well for Wimbledon, with Alex Paul again being pushed out on the wing, and James Waghorn similarly tackled into touch after a great move involving Dan and Cameron. Though that move was held up, we were now well into Dorkings half and Cameron Wilkinson was able to pick up and drive over to take us to 10-0 up. Though Dorking now came back very strongly, this was a period which saw the Wimbledon scrum dominant for most of the second half. Alex Browning was making up for lost time by throwing himself into tackles all over the pitch, in particular dumping the Dorking fullback in crunching style after chasing down a kick. However Dorking shortly afterwards broke through some weak tackling in the back line to score, converting to take us to 10-7. The next few minutes saw some good Wimbledon attacks, with Oli Moulton gathering the ball at fullback and gaining 50 yards with a run. With some great play from Alfie Jervis, we continued to get the ball all the way down the line to both wings, giving both Alex Paul and James Waghorn opportunities to make more good runs. However, Dorking put together a series of good drives, getting players committed to the rucks better than we were managing, and after a 5 yard scrum in our half they were able to get it to their blind side winger who ran in their second try. This was again converted, and we were for the first time looking at a scoreline in Dorkings favour: 10 - 14 down with about 10 minutes to go.

Wimbledon responded well with some strong runs by Alfie Jervis and again we were managing to get the ball out to the wings. The scrum was increasingly going Dorkings way however, and with the clock running down we found ourselves under heavy pressure near our own line, with a series of Dorking lineouts and penalties. Matt Shaw, who had had a great game both in attack and defence, took a knock to the head and was replaced by Sam Codling with a few minutes to go. After we relieved the pressure with a scrum near our line, Sam picked up the ball and proceeded to evade or hand off half the Dorking side in a charge up the left wing that resulted in a try under their posts. This was converted to take us to a 17-14 lead, and despite some heavy Dorking pressure in the last minute or two we held on to close out the win.

A thoroughly enjoyable game to watch today.