DINGS finished the season on a high, overcoming a stubborn and committed Westcliff side by seven-tries to four at Shaftesbury Park. Dings never really looked like losing the match, but they were pushed hard by the visitors who never gave up and finished the game in the ascendency.

Crusaders looked to have it all done and dusted on the hour-mark after forging a 41-7 lead. But to their credit, the visitors really threw the ball around in the final quarter and added three late tries to their total to earn a try bonus-point.

Flanker Alex Bilton opened the scoring for Dings on two-minutes with an unconverted try. Wing Tom Hargan added a second 16 minutes later and crossed again on 33 minutes. Fly-half Ollie Millner added one conversion to put Dings 17-0 up. Centre Jack Hogarth hit a wonderful line to open Westcliff’s account and Gregory Bannister converted to make it 17-7 at the interval.

Crusaders’ introduced scrum-half Tom Knight into the fray in the second-half, and he made an immediate impact, crossing for a hat-trick of tries, with lock Olly Bilton also crossing the chalk from close range. But the home side were unable to keep their concentration and Wescliff battled back for a deserved point.

Hooker Callum Lynch, replacement prop Dylan Coetzee and Bannister all crossed for the visitors in the final quarter to bring the teams closer together at full-time.

Dings scores: Bilton A 2, Hargan 18, 33. Knight 44, 55, 60. Bilton O 53. Conversions: Millner 19, 45, 54.

Westcliff scorers:Hogarth 38, Lynch 66, Coetzee 69, Bannister 79.

Dings: 15 Tovey; 14 Hargan, 13 Foot, 12 Harbinson, 11 Wright, 10 Millner, 9 Gasson; 1 Turner, 2 Anderson, 3 English, 4 Bilton O, 5 Hodge, 6 Rice, 7 Bilton A, 8 Holcombe. Reps: 16 Gollop, 17 Appleton, 18 Beer, 19 Knight, 20 Stapleton.

Westcliff: 15 Robbins; 14 Olanrewaju, 13 Hogarth, 12 Whiting, 11 Doyle F, 10 Bannister, 9 Comber; 1 Miller, 2 Lynch, 3 Brown, 4 Doyle L, 5 Maloney, 6 Dufficy, 7 Walker, 8 Hatton. Reps: 16 Moss, 17 Morrant B, 18 Smith, 19 Morrant H, 20 Gladdish.

Referee: Peter Connor.