Dings debutant Clark off

DINGS made it back-toback bonus-point wins after battling past valiant Guernsey at Shaftesbury Park, but it wasn't as straight-forward as the scoreline suggests.

Crusaders barely touched the ball in the first 24 minutes as the visitors monopolised both territory and possession.

When Dings did have the ball, they gave it straight back, and it looked like being one of those days when Guernsey flanker Dominic Rice crossed inside two minutes, Henry Greenhalgh converting.

But Dings found their mojo and struck twice inside three minutes with two scintillating longrange tries from debutant full-back Ian Clark and prop Ash Challenger to sweep into a 14-7 lead at the break – fly-half Steve Plummer with the conversions.

The home side were

much more consistent after the turnaround, while Guernsey struggled when Crusaders strung phases together. Dings prop Josh Lloyd crashed over two minutes into the secon half before centre Matt Smith rounded off another attack from deep to bring up the bonus point.

Jordan Grattan went over for Dings’ fifth try after gathering a pinpoint cross kick from centre Luke Arscott to make it 317. To their credit, Guernsey did not lie down and struck back with a try for Malcolm Barnes. But Clark went over in the corner on 79 minutes to seal victory.