Dagenham enjoy Shield glory

DAGENHAM'S memorable season continued on Sunday, as they lifted the Presidents Shield for the third time in five seasons at Ilford Wanderers Rugby Club.

The top two teams in Essex One should be applauded for their efforts to entertain a large crowd in what were atrocious conditions, the rain and gusting wind making handling very difficult. Fortunately the playing surface held up very well.

Maldon started the brightest as they took the game to the D's, forcing a number of penalties, and eventually this pressure told, when the Maldon outside centre cut a nice line off his fly half and darted home under the posts.

The conversion was added for a seven point lead.

Dagenham knew they had to play the weather better, and keep the game much shorter. They got back into the contest using their forwards to good effect, a number of close drives giving them good field position, and when Maldon infringed at a ruck, West Calverley stepped up to confidently slot the penalty home to get the D's on the board. From the restart Dagenham continued to push hard, the forwards were setting a decent platform, completely dominating the scrum, and after working their way towards the line, fullback Dexter Devlin showed good strength to grab the D's first try and give them a slender lead. The Central Park side were looking to build on this before the break, and they did manage to find another try. Again, it came via the forwards, as a number of pick and drives got them close, before man of the match Jordan Wigham finished powerfully in the corner. The half time score of 13-7 was a fair reflection, but had the D's made enough of the elements.

The second period began well for the Dagenham, as dogged defence from the backs and continued persistence from the pack kept Maldon pretty much in their own half.

The game ebbed and flowed for 20 minutes, with neither of the two well matched sides able to find a breakthrough. Maldon then found another gear, and had their most threatening period since the start.

They made a number of dangerous surges towards the D's line, with the Central Park men saved on three occasions by outstanding tackles from Louis Stevens, Calverley and Neil Davis. The latter producing a bone jarring hit on his opposite man that visibly lifted the whole team.

Having weathered this storm, the D's worked their way downfield and again used a close driving game to superb effect and worked towards the Maldon line. The crucial moment came when Maldon infringed allowing Calverley to slot home the penalty to give Dagenham a nine point cushion.

With only minutes on the clock, Maldon would have to find two scores and Dagenham were in no way prepared to let the game slip as they ran the clock down to claim a superb victory.

Delighted D's skipper Ben Fowler said: "Despite the rain and wind we really handled ourselves well.

"We were a little frantic at the start and Maldon's talented backline took advantage of this, however, we adapted well to the conditions to claim a memorable victory.

"Yet again, I cannot praise the efforts of the players highly enough, they have shown an amazing amount of desire to achieve this season, and the Shield is just reward for their endeavours.

"I also would like to credit our magnificent support on Sunday, it gave the players a real lift. Finally credit to Maldon, who contributed to a great final."