Facing the dilemma of whether to hit Day 1 of the season battle hardened with plenty of contact under the belt or fresh and frisky and barely out of trainers, the Stags appear always to have adopted - not always entirely voluntarily it has to be said - the " It is better to be under-cooked than over-cooked" approach. Inevitably this means that skills that appear to go smoothly on the training paddock do not transfer quite so well to the pressurised match day stage.

And so it was on Saturday when a stacatto affair between two fairly evenly matched sides was marred by basic errors and the constant blast of the referee's whistle. Despite two early Scott Hadden penalty goals for the Stags they were unable to impose any pattern on the game and indeed the home side's goal kicker was also getting plenty of long and medium range practice in - but missing. The high penalty count must have encouraged the ref to remember what other management tools he had at his disposal and it was not long before a yellow card made its first appearance - against CS for killing the ball at a ruck a good way away from the red zone. And it did not stop there : by the end of the day the Stags had seen yellow three times and Dorking twice.

There was more misery for the spectators to endure : neither side were very adept at locating their line-out jumpers and a fair number , particularly of CS throws, ended up either not straight or nowhere near their intended recipients. From the lottery of the line-out play could then move to the unpredictability of the scrummage where the referee was clearly of the view that such ascendancy as CS eventually achieved was founded on not pushing straight but what prop from Jeff Probyn to Alex Corbisero ever has? This led to the odd experience of CS being regularly pinged whilst Dorking - after yet more crooked CS throws - were themselves opting for line-outs ! Where then - one could scratch one's head and ask - might the dominant scrummage be? One is tempted to recall that legendary Cork and Ireland prop, Phil O' Callaghan's response to a referee 's " You're boring again O'Callaghan " : " You're not really all that entertaining yourself ref!"

What with this being the first outing for rolling substitutions ( Each side is now permitted to make up to eight interchanges) there really was very little continuity on show at all. By half time Dorking had got their noses 10-6 in front with a converted try - making their temporary numerical superiority in the forwards count following a driven line-out - and - at last - a successful penalty and they were to stay there.

With just quarter of an hour to go further penalties had seen the gap narrow now to 13-12 and the Stags and particularly fly-half Scott Hadden had enjoyed some brighter moments with the the forwards also working out eventually that Dorking might just be vulnerable to the pick and drive. The error count was still sky high , however, and real pressure could not be maintained.

It was Dorking who finished the stronger, first moving further ahead with a second try after a quickly taken penalty and then depriving CS of even a bonus point with a final penalty. Territorially they had had the better of it overall and their defence had stood firm : it had been a far from a pretty spectacle but Dorking at least had something to celebrate over and above the unofficial opening of their splendidly refurbished Big Field club house.

CS scorers : Scott Hadden Pens (4).