by STEVE WHITEMAN

DORKING 25

COLCHESTER 15

National League Three London and South

COLCHESTER remain second from bottom after losing their first game of 2017 at Dorking.

The Blacks competed well against a well-drilled mid-table side in an exhilarating match on a soft pitch.

The contest stayed level for half an hour until Dorking pressurised Colchester’s tryline to gain a penalty try.

The Blacks fought back but their two late tries were ultimately not enough to overtake the hosts' further scores.

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 fly-half Matt Noble and centre Ed Marsh were prominent in the backs as were Colchester’s scrum-half Matt Wadling and fullback Damien Brambley.

And after a period of pressure from the home forwards, Dorking scored a penalty try just before half-time to take 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 and when the tapped ball was moved to prop Ben Knight, he increased the lead to 15-3.

Colchester were left down to 14 men for ten minutes when left wing James Crozier was yellow carded for a trip.

But as so often happens, they raised their game and battled hard until he returned.

But they were conceding too many penalties and from one such award, Dorking chose to scrummage.

Scrum-half Zach Woodcock fed Marsh and he 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.

With the score at 25-8 and the clock ticking down, many teams would have thrown in the towel.

But with time running out, Colchester attacked the home tryline through Brambley who scooted past several defenders before offloading to Fanolua for his second try.

Crozier converted to finish a game that enthralled the large crowd of supporters but ultimately led to a Colchester defeat.