Diss 26, Dorking 21A large and vocal Mackenders crowd cheered Diss to an important victory which moved them up the National League Three London & SE table.

Diss 26, Dorking 21

A large and vocal Mackenders crowd cheered Diss to an important victory which moved them up the National League Three London & SE table.

Steve Hipwell, Ali Butler and Carl Smith came back into the home side, who delighted their fans with a performance of pressure and control by the pack, and running from the backs - a reminder of the rugby which swept them to promotion last season.

Diss were on the front foot from the off and were soon pressing with a series of drives from the pack. After a good run by Pete Bray, Dorking encroached offside, and Chris Beaird had an easy three points -though he missed five minutes later from another penalty for the same offence.

Up to this point the match had been all Diss, but from a line-out in their half, the Dorking No 8 broke a series of weak tackles to score a converted try under the posts. Diss came back with good running from the backs, with a series of kick and chases from Andy Thorpe, Beaird and Warren Wilby all just running away from them. But from a five metre scrum Dorking were pushed back for Andy Horne to pick up and dive over for a try converted by Beaird.

The home pack continued to dominate, allowing the backs freedom to run - but a knock-on was missed by the referee, allowing Dorking to run through a fairly static defence to score a converted try. Back came Diss, and after crossing the line but being held up from a succession of drives, the ball was passed back to Seb Goodge, who calmly kicked a drop goal to leave them trailing by a point.

In the second half Diss continued to exert pressure, and soon Beaird had another three points after Dorking were caught offside again.

Tempers began to fray, with Horne and a Dorking lock being yellow carded. But Diss were next to score when Beaird was put through on the blind side to score near the corner.

After nearly two seasons out Steve Hipwell was back in his familiar role in the centre. He was just held up over the line from one of his typical runs. From the resulting scrum, however, Bray and Tim Groom went over together to score - with the try being credited to Tim's new baby Emily.

After Josh Williams replaced Groom, Diss continued to press for the fourth try that would have given them the bonus point, but in the end the game ended with a consolation try from Dorking.