ESHER swept to a convincing win against Dings at a bright and breezy Shaftesbury Park. The visitors did the bulk of the damage in a breathless first-half, and looked like running away with it. The home side, however, did come back into it after the break, but there was no doubt as to who was the better side was on the day. Dings were unable to get their game going, and would have been taken aback by Esher’s all-action approach. The visitors seldom kicked the ball, preferring instead to keep it in hand and run at every opportunity.

Esher opened the scoring with a penalty from the impressive fly-half Sam Morley. The visitors extended their lead with an unconverted try from scrum-half Sam Bullock. Dings got back into the game with a try from wing Tommy Foot. Fly-half Ollie Milner added the extras from the touchline to cut the gap to a single point.

But Esher were awarded a penalty try after Dings full-back Luke Arscott was adjudged to have illegally prevented a certain try. Arscott was shown a yellow card and Esher took full advantage of their numerical advantage. Morley booted another three-pointer, before centre Luke Peters and wing Tom James crossed out wide, Morley kicked a conversion to give his side a 30-7 lead at the break.

The second-half was nip and tuck and noticeably more even. Joseph Vajner crossed for Esher but Dings hit back with a try from prop Ashley Challenger, who is back at the club on loan from Hartpury. Crusaders' reduced the gap still further after Tom Gollop, who was making his National League Two South home debut after joining from Cleve, scrambled over for a try. Replacement scrum-half Waylon Gasson wasted no time with the conversion, successfully adding the extras with a drop kick from the touchline. Yet, it was the visitors that had the final word, thanks to a superb solo effort from replacement Jack Lavin, who ghosted through the Dings defence from distance and sprinted clear for Esher's sixth try.

Scorers: Dings tries: Foot, Challenger, Gollop. Conversions. Milner, Gasson.
Esher tries: Bullock, Penalty try, Peters, James, Vajner, Lavin. Penalties: Morley. Adamson. Conversions: Morley.

Dings Crusaders: 15 Arscott; 14 Hargan, 13 Smith, 12 Brooker, 11 Foot, 10 Milner, 9 Knight; 1 Appleton, Hawkesby, 3 English, 4 Bilton O, 5 Bamber, 6 Bilton A, 7 Beer, 8 Lawrence. Reps: 16 Gollop, 17 Challenger, 18 Wood, 19 Gasson, 20 Doggett.

Esher Rugby: 15 Adamson; 14 Rowland, 13 Rawtson-Rudd, 12 Peters, 11 James, 10 Morley, 9 Bullock; 1 Lowes, Crawley, 3 Skoumourdis, 4 Sloan, 5 Bullett, 6 Wilkins, 7 McBearty, 8 Bullocki. Reps: 16 Vajner, 17 Keefe, 18 Hamilton, 19 Lavin 20 Thompson.

Referee Lloyd Davies