ARMAND ROUX says it will be important to try and pick up more bonus points this year as Dorking go for promotion once again in National League Three London.
The Red & Whites start their new campaign this weekend at home to Thurrock, with Dorking keen to go one better than last season, when they narrowly missed out on promotion to National League Two South.
A failure to register bonus points in several victories ultimately proved key as Bishop's Stortford pipped Dorking to the title, before the Red & Whites suffered an agonising last-gasp defeat in the play-off against Exmouth to miss out again.
But the Dorking captain is keen to try and put that right this season, with Roux admitting that the team needs to make the most of claiming bonus points.
However, he says they will not alter their way of playing to leave themselves exposed at the other end.
He said: "I think we need to win the game first and then look to get the bonus points. We left it too late last year to start getting bonus points and we had a few too many narrow victories.
"It is just one of those things and you have to weigh it up whether to go for the bonus point and leave yourself exposed a bit more at the back, particularly when it is a narrow game.
"I think you have to get the game won first and then when it is, you can force it a bit more and go for the lineouts and scrums to try and push on for the bonus points.
"We know it is something we need to work on and it is on our radar, but it is not something we are making too much of."
Dorking rounded off their preparations for the new season with a 46-28 defeat against Bishop's Stortford on Saturday – the team that just beat them to promotion last year.
Roux said it was a difficult game and a disappointing result, although he said it was a good stepping stone towards the new season, which he predicts will be tough, with Dorking just one of several sides with ambitions to get promoted this season.
He said: "I could name you seven sides that will be fiercely contesting for the title.
"There are teams that have been up there before like Barnes, Tonbridge Juddians and Westcombe Park, and then you have teams like Bury St Edmunds and East Grinstead coming up with big budgets.
"Barking will be tough too, having come down from the league above and they will be a good side. Teams from the bottom half too have been strengthening to get into the top half and it will be a fiercely competitive league.
"It is a level playing field to start with though with everyone starting at zero and we will just take it game by game."
First up for Dorking is Thurrock, a team that they only just beat 16-12 at home last season thanks to a late Cameron Pimlow try.
And Roux says they will be a good test for the Red & Whites once again.
He said: "There are rumours they have lost a few players, but we know they will still have 15 good quality players and they will be a good test.
"We have them and Basingstoke in the first two games, which are two tough fixtures, but we will just go out and play our game and try to get the wins."
