Committed Club sponsors, Belcom were match sponsors today and it is to be hoped that Mike Hayton and his guests will have left - eventually! - very happy with another convincing Stortford win.

The early exchanges, though suggested that a very different outcome might be possible, as Dorking's aggressive defence and ambitious attacks through their backs forced Stortford onto the back foot. After 9 minutes, this pressure paid dividends, when visiting flyhalf, Matt Noble exploited a stretched home defence to find Karyim Irving with a pinpoint crossfield kick out wide on the left, which allowed the winger to step inside a despairing cover tackle and flop over for a try. Noble kicked an excellent conversion to take his side out to a 7-0 lead. Stortford were still struggling to gain any real momentum, but slowly worked their way back into the game and were rewarded after 20 minutes with a try to Richard Gill, driving over for an unconverted try off the back of a strong driving maul. The position had been created by a penalty at a breakdown inside the Dorking 22, from which Tom Coleman found touch and a well-worked lineout did the rest. The deficit was, however, soon widened, when Noble kicked an excellent penalty goal from almost halfway, after Stortford had knocked on, in trying to force the play and another player played the ball from an offside position. The game continued to be closely contested with defences generally on top but, after 35 minutes a good break by Nick Hankin found prop, Rory Young in close support and his drive took play almost to the Dorking line, forcing a rather cynical offence at a breakdown right under the visitors' posts. Stortford opted for the scrum and quick, clean ball from the halfbacks gave centre, George Cullen enough space to crash over between two defenders for a try which, after his conversion attempt went wide left the scores tied. This was how the half ended but not before Dorking's winger, Benji Marfo was yellow-carded for taking a player out away from the play shortly before the break

Having weathered all that Dorking could throw at them and, with the prospect of the breeze at their backs , Stortford started. the second period strongly. There was a considerable degree of symmetry in the next score, which came (as with Dorking's opener) after 9 minutes of the half and also was created by a clever cross kick from flyhalf to wing. This time it was Tom Coleman and Nick Hankin who were the men involved and, with the conversion attempt drifting wide their side's lead was restricted to 5 points. This was soon extended, though, when Dom Morris, barely on the field as replacement on the wing for Mike Gallagher, took a great pass from Sean Edwards to run in a try, after the prop had dummied his way through a gap and then made 15 metres across the Dorking 22. Cullen's excellent conversion took the score out to 22-10 after 11 minutes. It was Morris again who touched down for another unconverted try after 25 minutes, when he clinically exploited a three on two, created by quick ruck ball and a pinpoint pass from Coleman. Stortford's pack was now becoming increasingly dominant in the scrums and, as the visitors tired visibly and were unable to maintain anything like the line speed they had produced earlier in the game, the home side took a stranglehold on the game, dominating territory in the remaining 15 minutes. It was no surprise, therefore, when two more tries were scored after 75 and 79 minutes, both from scrums under the Dorking posts. The first was touched down by No 8, Baxter Wilson, breaking from the back of a strong push by his fellow forwards and the second came, when a penalty try was awarded, after another scrum, advancing inexorably to wards the line was halted illegally. Cullen kicked both conversions to take the final score to 41-10.

In a game, where the strong Dorking defence managed to restrict opportunities for Stortford's backs for long periods of the game, the forwards had to deliver a strong performance, which they did increasingly impressively across the whole game. It was no surprise, therefore, when the Hilton Group man of the match came from their ranks and it was Rory Young, who scrummaged strongly throughout the 65 minutes he played and also showed up prominently in the loose, that in the end won the bubbly.

It was pleasing also to see the Blues achieving a convincing victory over Dorking's IIs on the adjoining pitch to maintain their winning run. Let's hope that next week's visit from Chinnor's first two teams will see another home double! The fact, though that Chinnor's 1sts manged today to push Cambridge (who would have been smarting considerably from last week's home defeat!) very close demonstrates how misleading their lowly league position is and that another full-on encounter can be expected.