DORKING demonstrated the shift in power that has taken place locally with a comfortable victory in this derby game.

For many years Sutton have been one of the powerhouse teams in the county, and they put Dorking to the sword in last season's Surrey Cup final leaving many members down at Kiln Lane wondering how the Red & Whites would survive in National Three.

Early in the season Dorking showed that they had risen to the challenge with five straight league wins including a 30-28 victory away at Rugby Lane, the closeness of the scoreline very much flattering Sutton.

But on Saturday at The Big Field, the gulf that has grown between the sides was evident by the final whistle with Dorking running in four unanswered tries for a bonus point that leaves them firmly established in sixth place in the table. Indeed the scoreline could have been a lot worse for Sutton.

Relegation-threatened Sutton, however, took the field with intent and made it clear that Dorking would have to battle for the points and at the first scrum the Red & Whites found themselves going unexpectedly backwards.

Sutton, without ever threatening to score, kept Dorking in their 22 for long periods of the first half although full-back Ben Tyler relieved the pressure with enormous kicks behind the defence, as well as one notable big tackle to stop an attack in its tracks.

With the scrum still struggling Dorking's problems increased further when prop Ollie Buckland retired with a damaged elbow to be replaced by veteran tighthead Julian Bambridge.

But on the half hour Dorking stepped up a gear and against the run of play a gap appeared when captain Armand Roux popped a neat pass to fly-half Matt Noble who scythed his way through the defence for a try under the posts which he converted.

Dorking had their tails up and the pack took control in the scrums while the back row of Ben Lucas, Jason Geldenhuys and Mike MacFarlane began to dominate Sutton at every turn.

And on 33 minutes winger Gary Johnston broke several desperate tackles on half way and set off at speed before offloading to the supporting Geldenhuys for try number two, again converted by Noble.

Roux, now finding his best form after a long injury lay off earlier in the season, was commanding the exchanges in the loose and from his expertly fielded kick-off Dorking embarked on a great sweeping move upfield that should have ended in another try.

The ball eventually came wide again through hooker James Catton, Roux and centre Rob Clarke for prop Chris Beer to head for the line before popping a pass to winger Scott Johnston who couldn't quite hold on in the contact at the line.

After the interval Sutton upped their game with their big second rows Richard Nicholls and Jason Ford taking the game to Dorking, but the Red & Whites' defence held firm.

Prop Beer, by now utterly dominating in the scrums, found himself in open space and charged 30 metres before offloading to lock Qin Wiseman who unleashed a deadly hand-off as Dorking found good field position.

From here Dorking should have put the game out of sight, but they suddenly found themselves on the wrong end of countless penalty decisions for reasons that were never clear.

Sutton duly capitalised on this good fortune and captain Steve Munford reduced the deficit from a penalty after the totally dominant Dorking scrum was inexplicably penalised yet again.

The outstanding Mike MacFarlane soon found himself in the sin bin after questioning another penalty decision, but still Dorking's defence held out.

Sutton began to tire and Noble broke quickly from defence to feed the pacy Tyler who set off on a mazy run which took him to the tryline. But despite winger Gary Johnston being in support on his shoulder, the try went begging once more.

From the ensuing scrum Roux went over for try number three, which Noble just failed to convert and in a fabulous finale of running rugby Noble fed Tyler who secured the bonus point with a try in the corner, Noble's kick bouncing off the post.

Dorking: Beer, Catton, Buckland, Wiseman, Roux, Lucas, MacFarlane, Geldenhuys, Cummings, Noble, S Johnston, Love, Clarke, G Johnston, Tyler, Bambridge, Haigh, H Watts.