Ds off the mark against Writtle

Dagenham youngsters have had a tough start to the season as have the visitors to Central Park, Writtle Wanderers, so even this early in the season the game had a significant level of importance for both sides

Writtle started the game far better than the home side as they spent the first 15 minutes of the game dominating both territory and possession but Dagenham managed to stand firm and conceded points to a solitary penalty 0-3

The next 15 minutes saw the home side gain some momentum, the forwards, who took an absolute battering last week, have trained hard all week and this started to pay off as they gained the upper hand in the scrums and line outs and an exchange of penalties saw the score move to 3-6 in favour of the visitors

A serious injury to skipper Chris Rawlinson, a dislocated thumb that required surgery at Broomfield Hospital last night, was the only negative from the half

Halftime score of 3-6 was a fair reflection of the half although Dagenham has grown throughout the half and looked to be stronger going into the second half

The opening try of the game came from hooker Joe Parkin who once again had an immense game, extras where added by James Hogg to give Dagenham a lead at 10-6 a lead they would maintain for the entire half

The play from both sides was good considering the conditions and both had chances to extend the lead but it was Dagenham who would benefit most after some strong forward play saw flanker Jordan Darkwa score left of the the posts, conversion was slotted by Jordan Calverley for a score of 17-6

Writtle then had a concerted passage of possession and territory but couldn’t convert to points through some resolute defending and unfortunate handling errors

Dagenham would once again weather the storm well and would take the game back to Writtle. A penalty in front of the posts was kicked for touch and the forwards obliged with an excellent take from George Wren setting up the driving maul for Parkin to get his second of the game. Con missed

At 22-6 the game had turned in Dagenhams favour and they continued to press for the BP score. Writtle played their part and defended manfully but Dagenham had started to dominate and the confidence boost was clear to see when a set move from the scrum was converted wide by Jermaine Darkwa for a score of 27-6 and the BP

Writtle never gave up and kept plugging away at the Dagenham line and with a period of possession towards the end of the game finally managed to get over the line for a try with the conversion slotted the game ended 27-13 to the home side

After a very tough start to the season it was great to watch a competitive game of rugby between two well matched sides who gave their all in pretty dour conditions

Hard work at training paid off and the confidence of the win will be invaluable. We get it that wins will be a premium this season so it’s great to enjoy one but it’s back to work for the challenge of Mersea Island next week

Great effort lads we’ll done

Team: Rawlinson (Wonderling) Parkin Davenport Wren D Wren G Westcot (Garwood) Darkwa Collins Matthews Hogg Ballard (Evans) Calverley Preston Darkwa Warner