Old Dunstonian 29 - Lewes 19

This was a fine performance from D’s and of four excellent tries Dallanana’s second was one to treasure. The aussie full back looks to have all of the skills of his compatriot and fellow Aussie Ben Thomas and is probably an even more dangerous broken field runner than his illustrious predecessor in the D’s backline. To have beaten a side that defeated them twice last season and to score four tries and deny a bonus point to Lewes is a measure of how far this side has recently progressed.

A tight first half where a Lewes try had been countered by one from Dallanana and a penalty from Connolly saw D’s turn to kick down the slope confident of success, despite the loss of fly half Bryant Hall to a wrist injury.

The second half began with promise as No 8 Luke Smart picked up from the base of a 5 metre scrum and drove over despite the close attentions of the Lewes back row. When outstanding scrum half Cody Mackie broke blind from a scrum 25 metres out he had too much pace for the cover and scored gleefully in the corner. Lewes enjoyed a majority of posession but were largely restricted to using it laterally and outside the red zone by an organised D’s defence, a penalty kick being their solitary reward.

D’s meanwhile were hunting the four try bonus point. A break from J P Mills set up an attacking scrum from which Mackie broke, setting up a ruck from which fast hands from in particular Ollie Evans saw a pass flipped to Dallanana to finish, Connolly converting. Lewes came back late in the day with a try to narrow the eventual margin of defeat to 29 – 19.

This was an excellent win against a strong Lewes outfit that sees the sides exchange places in the table. Next up the old boys go to Tunbridge Wells who are showing strong signs of improvement after a slow start to the season, so expect another tough outing prior to the rematch with Charlton Park pre Christmas at Park Langley. It’s always unwise to pre suppose an outcome to any fixture, but I’d make the following prediction with confidence – win, lose or draw, you won’t see sharper back play at this level than that being produced by the old boys currently.