TAUNTON Titans' 18 month unbeaten record at Hyde Park finally come to an end at hands of a well-drilled Dorking side yesterday who took the match 21-14.

With the two sides lying second and third in National league 2 (S) the match was always going to be a cracker and it lived up to the billing.

From the start both teams looked to take each other on and the contact area and collisions were not for the faint hearted.

It was Dorking who drew first blood with a try for right wing Mark Duxbury after good use of turnover ball saw him race into the corner for a five point lead.

Taunton then started to get themselves into the game and came away with three points from a penalty kicked by Gary Kingdom.

With the momentum swinging in the home side's favour Dorking were penalised once more with second row Higgins sent to the sin bin for the indiscretion.

The Titans kicked to the corner and once the driving line-out was stopped several forceful runs were turned into a try for No8 Brett Harvey to take the score to 8-5. Kingdom added another penalty for the home side to make the half time score 11-5 with all to play for.

The probable turning point came within the first minute of the second half when Taunton’s fly half Toby East was sent to the sin bin after taking out a player in the air.

With one fewer in defence, Dorking made the home side pay with a well-taken try by fly half Cameron Pimlow, who had a great game controlling his team and making sure they played in the right areas.

With the try under the posts, the conversion for full back Matthew Noble was a simple one and gave the visitors the lead for the first time, 11-12.

Kingdom nudged Taunton in front once again with another penalty before Noble paid them back with interest as the Titans tried too hard and gave away silly penalties which he duly converted.

Titans were camped on the Dorking line for the final few minutes but were unable to break through a resolute defence as the visitors secured a well-deserved victory.

Taunton Titans: 15 Kingdom, 14 Mason, 13 Fraser, 12 Tichias, 11 Faulkner, 10 East, 9 Webb, 8 Harvey (Davis 50), 7 J Fleming , 6 D Lee (capt), 5 Turner (Cormack 40), 4 G Fleming, 3 Cooper (Manton 63), 2 Gatford, 1 Ball.

Replacements not used: Spurdle, Bath.

Yellow cards; East 41.

Dorking: 15 Noble, 14 Duxbury, 13 Jeffery, 12 Macdonald, 11 Johnston (Terelak 63), 10 Pimlow, 9 Crow, 8 Stevenson (Nunn 79), 7 Vermont (Edwards 53), 6 T Lee, 5 Higgins (Awin 53), 4 Roux, 3 Nunn (Coutts 58), 2 Grimstone (Catton 58), 1 Knight.

Yellow Cards; Higgins 19, Knight 79.