Dukes 25 - 15 Sutton and Epsom IV

A superb second half performance from fly-half Tom Bartram turned the game for the Dukes yesterday. Trailing 3-0 after a tight first half against a very strong S&E side (which included a large number of their 2nd team), S&E went under the posts to extend their lead. The Dukes fought back well though, scoring a try of their own after some good work by the backs. The forwards continued their hard work through out and punched the ball up into good position. Fly half Bartram then produced the move of the match with a sublime cross field kick which was brilliantly fielded by winger Tom Rotherham and after some excellent work, Tom Eckardt was able to put Dan Drummond in for a try.

S&E are however not a team to take things laying down and they produced a try from their fly-half to level things up. The Dukes were not in the mood to be rolled over, and 2nd half skipper Mike Owers lead the charge with the forwards again working a great field position for the excellent Bartram to kick a drop goal to give the Dukes the lead. It did look as though S&E might get themselves back into the game almost immediately through a penalty, however their skipper oddly chose to kick for the line rather than kick for goal, the resulting line-out was then promptly taken by Charlie Linard. The pack worked even harder to close the game out and just as it looked as if the Dukes might just scrape through, leading trying scorer Nick Lewis popped up with superb break-away run from midfield to make the game safe.

All in all, a fantastic effort from everyone in the squad and a great way to win our last away game of the season. The march to a highest ever league finish continues...

Squad: Davidson, Owers, Turner-Wood, Linard, S Dixon (c), Webster, Eckardt, Drummond, Tomsett, Ball, Bartram, G Dixon, Lewis, Wyatt, McHugh, Russ, Kirby, Bevan, Morris, Arscott, Rotherham