Seven tries and five points made it a pretty good start for CS Rugby. However at kick off time the CS supporters were not expecting a great result as the team had bus had been horrendously delayed by the closure of the M20 following a dopy lorry driver who smashed into the bridge with a load that exceeded the height limit. The team eventually arrived and a after a mere few minutes of warm up time the match got under way.
Within two minutes of the start Dover were awarded a penalty which they kicked to touch but CS defended well and stole Dover’s ball. CS’s first scoring opportunity came on 5 minutes, but Tom Jones narrowly missed with a penalty from twenty metres. However within two minutes CS were awarded another penalty which they kicked to the corner; the line out was won and the pack drove over with hooker Forrester getting the touch down; Jones converted and CS went into a 7 – 0 lead which they never conceded. From the restart CS were caught sleeping and allowed Dover to collect the ball and they also drove over the line. Dover could not convert. On 18 minutes the CS backs, who threatened all afternoon, made a promising break and full back Houstoun cut a great diagonal line to score close to the posts 14 - 5. As the half drifted towards the break Dover kicked down the slight slope to the corner where, following a maul involving thirteen Dover players their right wing scored what proved to be their last score of the day. However before the break the CS backs were again threatening and this time James Dazeley scored with Jones again converting, leaving the half time score 10 – 21.
The first fifteen minutes of the second half sealed the 5 points and the match as three tries were scored. The fist, after three minutes of the half was another drive over the forwards following a clean line out catch by Mike Smith, the second was a second try from Dazeley and the third was a second try for Houstoun who collected a deft grubber kick through the advancing Dover backs. After Jones had converted two of these three tries it was 10 - 40. Just into the final quarter Tom Jones broke through to score near the posts and converted his own try. Early season tiredness and perhaps the impact of the long journey down resulted in the rest of the match being impacted by injuries and penalties given away by CS, and there were no further scores. The entire CS team made outstanding contributions in very difficult circumstances. Next week CS are away to Cobham who also had a great start to the season, with a 51 -11 victory away to Chiswick.