DORKING produced one of their best performances of the season against table topping Jersey on Saturday, but were unable to take anything from the game as the champions-elect proved just too strong for the Big Field outfit.

Jersey arrived with centres Donovan Saunders and Sam Tuia having notched up over fifty tries between them and No 8 Trower weighing in as third top try scorer in the division with 15 touch downs.

And yet it was the massive underdogs who were to get off to the better start.

With Qin Wiseman restored to the second row with Roux, Dorking's policy of playing Jersey on the front foot had immediate effect and clearly unnerved even the islanders' composure and expected procession of points.

Ollie Buckland and Chris Beer held solid in the set giving James Catton parity in the scrum. Jason Geldenhuys and Mike MacFarlane were purposeful and persistent producing a string of penalties for Matt Noble to start confidently and chip Dorking into an unexpected six-point lead.

Dorking were also playing some decent rugby with Noble mixing it up nicely and threatened further with Love and Wiseman making a couple of sparkling runs off Noble's shoulder, while Spencer Richards was having a red letter day dancing through a number of would-be tacklers.

Seemingly shocked by the lack of respect they were being shown by Clarke and Gary Johnston in the Dorking defence, Jersey steadily started to shake off the after effects of their long trip to the Surrey Hills.

The splendid skipper Vaioletti single-handedly forced a series of penalties for Hawkes to chip away to first level the scores and then go in a mere three points ahead at the break.

And it was equally close at the start of the second.

Richards continued to see plenty of ball and Ben Tyler was clearly enjoying the time and space operating from full-back.

Roux was matching his illustrious opponents stride for stride and the Red & Whites spent long periods in Jersey territory.

Ollie Cummings was at his sniping best forcing Jersey to resort to conceding penalties in a desperate attempt to burst Dorking's bubble.

Critically, in the context of the game, Noble's ordinarily reliable radar malfunctioned in the first phase of the third quarter, completing the set of sliding a penalty wide, dropping one short and then agonisingly smacking a third off the upright.

And Jersey were simply too good a side not to take advantage of the let off.

Big lock Rogers made a clean break and despite some decent defence from Love and Clarke, Tongan centre Sam Tuia started to show why he tops the division's try-scoring table.

Jersey also started to profit from some rather relaxed refereeing of the offside laws. Incisive running from visiting full-back Le Bourgoise had Dorking all at sea, forced back deep into container corner where the Channel Islanders turned on the turbo and marched over.

Hawkes was unable to convert from far out but did slot the subsequent penalty to put the champions elect 17-6 ahead.

While Dorking were still very much in the game with Geldenhuys going toe to toe with the Polynesian back row, any faint prospect of taking points from the fixture were finally extinguished when Jersey were controversially awarded the put in at the scrum after a mess in the lineout appeared to come off a Jersey arm.

Once more the visitors made the most of their good fortune getting the nudge in the scrum and man handling the Dorking 8 back for a push over try and an extremely flattering scoreline.

While the game was up Dorking didn't give up. Bambridge came on for a cameo outing in the front row and there was a run on for young Nick Haigh.

Roux and Cummings ran a couple of quick penalties and Gary Johnston went close in the corner bringing a frustrating close to a heroic display.

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