Dagenham claimed their first victory in Regional 2 Anglia with a 54-7 success over Stowmarket at Central Park.

The tone was set in the early exchanges, as a thumping tackle from Earl Gorman led to a turnover but handling errors denied Dagenham the chance to score.

Ill-discipline enabled Stowmarket to have a prolonged period of possession, attacking the line through with forward carries but denied repeatedly by tenacious defence.

Once Dagenham regained control of the ball, a great break by Jermaine Darkwa on the wing enabled man-of-the-match Lewis Pruce to pick a good line off the breakdown and hand off the final two defenders to score under the posts.

Tommy Cameron added the conversion and it wasn’t long before Dagenham extended the score, as Pruce made a half-break and offloaded to Cameron, who showed excellent footwork and pace to beat the covering defence to score a converted try of his own.

The home defence continued to smother Stowmarket, causing a number of forced errors, and a strong break by Nat Farrell on the right, followed by quick ball and accurate passing, found Daniel Libby on the left touchline to offload to Jordan Darkwa.

Cameron converted again to make it 21-0 at the break and Dagenham made a fast start to the second half, with Cameron throwing a mispass into the path of Gorman, who kicked it on and collected to score.

Both sides made errors as the oppressive heat began to take its toll and Dagenham were reduced to 14 men after a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on and lost another player to the sin bin for repeated team infringements.

Excellent defending from the pack continued to repel Stowmarket but a loose offload in their own half gifted the visiting centre an easy run in to score a converted try to make it 28-7.

It seemed to be the impetus Dagenham needed to refocus and led to a ruthless period of possession, with the restart claimed after a good chase by Libby, setting a platform to attack.

Another powerful carry from by Pruce committed multiple defenders before he managed to slip away the offload to partner Gorman to score his second try of the match.

Dagenham soon scored again as industrious flanker Charlie Wilkinson burst through the defensive line and gave a pass for Farrell to run in, with Stowmarket’s resolve appearing to wilt in the heat.

The ball was spun wide from a strong scrum and a clever backs move opened the space for Liam Power Jr to race through and score from halfway.

Dagenham’s final try came from a fantastic break by Jermaine Darkwa, breaking the line from his own half to beat several defenders before a classy offload to captain Farrell to have the final say.

Cameron completed his almost-perfect day from the tee to finish the tally as Dagenham's cohesive attacking and defensive display, plus superior fitness, shone through to claim five league points.

And coaching staff will be keen for Dagenham to continue the momentum during next week's fixture at Woodford.