Old Ds go down to Bulls

Rugby Union London League Three South East

OLD Dunstonians slumped to their second defeat in three league games and consequently their worst a start to a league campaign in over a decade.

With several key personnel missing, a fired up Aylesford Bulls put a sloppy first 20 minutes behind them to execute a basic game plan which proved good enough on the day.

With Dunstonians lacking their first choice front row (a situation exacerbated when prop Baladason was lost to concussion after 15 minutes) and replacement hooker Saunderson, one of the old boys most effective ball carriers lost to the blindside flank, a struggle in the tight was always on the cards and so it proved as Aylesford dominated the scrummage, denying the old boys front foot ball that might have allowed them to attack from beyond the gain line.

Dunstonians started the game well, executing a game plan up the slope to kick the corners and pen in their hosts.

In the first few minutes Scott came into the line and kicked speculatively.

The Alylesford wing made an awful hash of the kick (two tries later more than redeemed his afternoon however) to allow the skipper to re-gather and sprint under the posts, a lead increased to 10 by an Evans conversion and a 40m penalty for offside.

The old boys looked fully in control up to the halfway point, after which Aylesford upped their physicality and started to trouble the visitors.

The home right winger burst through a gap which appeared in the visitor's defence to reward a series of drives with seven points.

The second half saw Aylesford make less mistakes as the old boys composure slipped.

Aylesford scored and converted two tries for an 11-point advantage, spurring the old boys to attempt attacks from deep tap penalties, when perhaps a kick to the corner and a catch and drive might have been more effective, especially with the home pack reduced to seven by a yellow card for the later stages.

Nevertheless half chances came and went, spoiled by errors and committed scrambling defence from the hosts.

The most notable chance going astray when marauding prop Dennis was called back as he crossed due to a forward pass.

Lawrence eventually finished off a series of attacks to go in under the posts for a converted score.

Too little too late unfortunately, as the kick salied over the referee blew for time, counting to forty minutes being one of the few things he got right on the afternoon.

Despite a second defeat, nobody should be too quick to hit the panic button.

Missing players will be available again, and those who had off-afternoons will hit form.

With only Chichester unbeaten after three games, this league should go to the wire and may be one of the more open seasons of recent times.