Aylesford Bulls 19 Old Dunstonian 24

Tries from Hugh Hawkins (2) and Josh Smith and were enough to squeeze past their promotion chasing opponents, with the pack contributing a mighty performance in the loose. On a cold dry afternoon Aylesford's 12 Cherrington was celebrating his 200th appearance for his club, and found himself opposite the even more knarled Jeremy Scott, moving into the 320's for OD's

The old boys took the early initiative with a converted try, swiftly answered by Aylesford to reduce the margin to 2 points. Play swung to and fro with D's shading the possession and chances, though one period of Aylesford pressure led to Cody Mackie earning 10 minutes rest for killing a ruck. Aylesford were similarly penalised - yellow card and all - at the close of the half, with Josh Smith taking the easy three on offer to send D's to the break with a 10 5 lead.

The Bulls moved ahead soon after the restart as they drove over from a tap penalty. Jayden Dallalana returned a clearance kick to set up a converted score and restore the lead at 17 12 to the old boys. Aylesford restored their lead when a series of scrums saw them get the better of the Old Boys, the referee eventually awarding a penalty try to take the score to 17 19 favouring the hosts. Hugh Hawkins restored the lead for D's when he took a quick tap and stretched over to make the score 24 19

As the clock ticked down to the 80th minute and with the Old Boys protecting a slender lead and with Aylesford setting up camp in the red zone, prop Smith was substituted for Marcus Whyte, who promptly took a blow to the head and couldn't continue. The move to uncontested scrums for this crucial series understandably incensed Aylesford, but with two props unfit to continue that is what the law provisions for. Forced to nominate the lineout, D's spoiled the throw and Aylesford were eventually pinged, allowing D's to clear their lines and hold the Bulls at arms length for the remaining time. The Aylesford report implies a certain wiliness on OD's part which the team would refute. Aylefords report is linked at the bottom of this page

The official had an uneven afternoon and players from both sides felt wronged at different times of the game, though two of the yellow cards (for D's Mackie and Aylesfords Webdale) were perfectly just, the former killing the ball on the wrong side, the latter learning that rucking and stamping are two different things.

Aylesford's bonus point was well deserved and in the battle for second place its obvious that despite this setback the Bulls will be in the mix right up to the end. Indeed their run in looks the most straightforward of the three sides below East Grinstead.

Next weekend OD's swap Bulls for Lions as they entertain Deal and Betteshanger, who, despite being at the wrong end of the table, can always be relied upon to front up and provide a tough test.