Colchester battled to one of their best ever wins in National League Rugby as they beat
high-flying Dorking 36-33 in a thriller of a match at Raven Park.
Dorking came into the game off the back of six straight wins in National 2 East and were
clear favourites to take the spoils against ninth-placed Colchester.
But Colchester’s forwards more than held their own against bigger opponents, while the
back division looked dangerous every time they got the ball.
The Blacks outscored their visitors by six tries to five, with Ashton Webb grabbing a hat-trick.
It’s been quite a week for the back rower. The previous Saturday Webb left the field after six
minutes and ended up in hospital. Fortunately for him – and Colchester - his injured finger
turned out not to be serious.
Dorking were predictably fast out of the blocks, as number 8 Finn Osborne followed up his
own kick to score a converted try.
But with the visitors temporarily reduced to 14 players for foul play, Jack Daly broke and
found Findlay Gilmour, who set up Jonah Varela for Colchester’s first try.
Colchester were forced into a change as Ethan Cole limped off with a heel injury to be
replaced by Max Clark.
Dorking scored from a line-out drive to lead 12-5, but before half-time Colchester had their
second, this time from a quick tap penalty. Archie Kean took it up and Webb busted through,
Dorking heading to the sheds 12-10 ahead.
A minute into the second half, Ted Reid broke and the ball flew down the back line and there
was Webb, popping up on the wing like all good opensides, to swoop in and nudge
Colchester ahead for the first time.
Dorking’s speedy scrumhalf Tom Newman jinked over for a converted try to regain the lead,
but after the referee limped off to be replaced by one of his assistants, Colchester went into
overdrive.
First Clark broke, the ball was recycled and Bayley Eden crossed for the fourth try to
maintain Colchester’s record of banking try bonus points in all nine matches this season.
A penalty kicked to the corner and patient pick and drive ended with Webb dotting down for
his hat-trick, while Benjy Mills was quickest to a cute chip through to bring up Colchester’s
sixth try.
Mills converted all three, and Colchester looked comfortable at 36-19 with 10 minutes to go.
But Dorking are not a team to lie down, and the boys from Surrey ran in two late tries to
make it a three-point game and set home nerves jangling.
Relief came as the referee pinged Dorking, and with the ball kicked to touch, the
celebrations could begin.
“A fantastic job,” was the reaction of a delighted head coach Mike Haywood.
“I’m really please for the boys who stuck at it against a decent Dorking team.

“The guys played the game exactly how we wanted to play. We want to be free flowing, we
want to move the ball and score tries and it’s just great when we get it on the pitch.
“We’re not the finished article. We always want to learn; we always want to develop.”
Haywood was quick to praise the big home crowd: “The guys love playing here. We’ve got
such great fans.”
Ashton Webb was named player-of-the-match by sponsors SRC, while the coaches’ award,
courtesy of The Lexden Crown, went to Archie Kean.
The challenges keep coming for eighth-placed Colchester as on Saturday they face a trip to
second-placed Esher.
Colchester: Lavin, Varela, Gilmour, Kean, Cole, Mills, Daly; O’Neil, McCartney, Rossouw,
Eden, de Lucchi, Ellis, Webb, Reid. Reps: Harrison, Corcoran, Whiteman, Collier, Clark