Penalty gamble pays off as Dunstonians secure bonus point win

If the OD’s didn’t know they were in an end of season dogfight to stay in this competitive London 3 South East league, a close encounter with fellow strugglers Aylesford Bulls demonstrated that this will go down to the wire. Every point will count and Mike Ubee’s superb touchline conversion of Mal Connolly’s late try denied the opposition a losing point bonus and might yet prove invaluable at the end of the season
Changes in the pack saw a relatively inexperienced front row take the field and last minute withdrawals forced skipper Pete Jefferys to move up to the second row with Alex McCulloch coming in at open side flanker. Despite the disruption OD’s made a committed and lively start that gave a large crowd, swelled by a well attended league lunch, reasons to be cheerful. Some controlled possession and intelligent kicking put Old Boys into opposition territory and set piece play looked secure and organised. However after a tit-for-tat first quarter, Aylesford scored first with a simple move off the back of the scrum which really should have been better dealt with. The visitors took heart from this first score and began to assert more forward pressure, testing OD resolve and physical appetite. These days, however, defensive alignment and line speed are a strong element in the Old Boys’ locker and they quickly turned defence into attack when great pressure forced a risky Aylesford pass which was gratefully intercepted by the speedy Connolly who raced unopposed under the sticks.
Dunstonians then impressively dominated the rest of the half. creating overlaps for centre Rory Palmer and winger Jamal Gobir to smartly finish off with tries and take the score to 19-7. They cane very close to another after a surging line break from James Sinclair looked certain to extend the lead, but he was denied fractions short of the line by a last ditch tackle. The final score of the half actually went to Aylesford to bolster their hopes of a second half revival.
So it proved, that the game swung sharply in favour of the visitors as OD’s familiarly lost momentum at a critical stage of the game. With better possession, the Aylesford half backs were able to drive their pack forwards as the homeside began to visibly wilt in front of their anxious supporters. What had been a secure scrummage began to look second best, while errors in the lineout further turned the match in the Bull’s favour. To compound OD woes, second row Tom McNamara saw yellow for a fairly innocuous tackle. With a man down, the odds didn’t look good to withstand a continuous wave of Aylesford attacks. Sure enough, OD’s eventually ran out of defenders as the Aylesford fly half, who was enjoying his best period of the match, cut through to score under the posts. Though OD’s rallied with another Ubee penalty, a 5 point lead looked pretty precarious.
Back to full strength and with James Atkinson coming on for the final 10 minutes, OD’s clawed themselves back to the opposition half to force a late penalty, testament to a bit more defiance and stamina than in recent weeks. A sharp intake of breath greeted the decision to kick for touch and go for the try but all was vindicated as Connolly registered the side’s fourth try and a bonus point.

Man of the match: Pete Jefferys who led a great team effort from the front
Congratulations to James Mann and James Atkinson on their !st XV debuts