Even before the game, it was clear to the Lions that Aylesford had called in for outside help to Bolster their side, when a couple of players appeared at the door of the Deal changing room and asked” Are you Aylesford?”!!!!

Unfortunately, a few players had to drop out at the last Knockings, so the Lions had the bare 15. Unflustered, the Deal and Betteshanger team went out to the field for pre-match warm up. What greeted them was more akin to an American football team with the Aylesford team having what appeared to be no less than 25 players… some of which were, putting it bluntly and with no other way to describe them, utter beasts.

The Lions forwards went through several line outs and then were joined by the backs to run through a few set peace plays. Jordan Thompson led the pre-match huddle. His clear message was play simple no frills rugby.

The Lions winning the toss elected to play with the sun behind them on a slight downhill slope.

The Aylesford Number 10 started the proceedings. With the ball taken cleanly from the kick off the Lions started the attack. The Aylesford players were aggressive in their defence but the Lions were resolute in ensuring the ball was recycled at the breakdown. There was nothing to separate the teams in the first 5 minutes or so but it was the Lions who put the first points on the board. The Lions scrum half, Kirk Williamson, made a break and when wrapped up in a tackle, close to the opposition 5 metre line, managed to flick the ball back to second row Steve Castle who drove for the line. The Aylesford defenders tried to intervene but he managed to spin out of the resulting wrap up tackle and, with support from the Lions Fly Half Lewellen Boucher and Flanker Dave Rose Junior, drove over through the remaining defenders and ground the ball for a pushover try. Kirk Williamson converting for a 7- 0 lead. A positive start for the Lions.

This turned out to be short term with Aylesford quickly getting the next score . With Aylesford taking the restart the Lions again took the ball cleanly, but after a couple of phases, the Lions were left short at a breakdown situation. The Ball was turned over and the Lions were unable to reset their defensive line. The Ball was passed through a few sets of hands for the winger to win the race to the line and dive over. The try was unconverted 7-5 to the Lions.

With the Lions taking the restart, Aylesford went on another rampaging attack. The big pack were relentless, especially with their large Fijian second row smashing the ball up or handing off the attempts to tackle them and bring him down. This sucked in the Lions defence and created gaps for their lighter footed players to make ground. Aylesford were next to score with clever inter-passing and the Lions scrambled defence was unable to halter the resulting attack and try. The conversion was taken. 12-7 to the Bulls.

The Lions lack of communication resulted, on a number of occasions, with their defence being left stranded and not being able to react when ball was being turned over after a promising Lions attack. This gave space for the Bulls players to take advantage of open space and gain significant ground with the Lions on the back foot. Aylesford continued their scoring with another converted try 19-7 to Aylesford.

Unfortunately, Steve Trice had to leave the field with an injury midway through the first half with a knee problem but to his credit, later returned to the field of battle. In the interim period and to the credit of Aylesford, they lent the Lions one of their plethora of players.
The Lions were playing some good rugby with Matthew Stanton, Lewellen Boucher and Justin Gault making strong runs from the centre and combining well to get the Lions on the front Foot. Jordan Thompson was strong in the set piece and protected the ball well when going into a ruck situation. Bentley Senior, playing in the front row, continued to defy his age and had many good attacking runs. The pack, as a whole, were holding its own against what was obviously a far bigger weight advantage on the Aylesford side. Neil Gault at 15 was protecting the rear quarters well running the ball back on a number of opportunities. Kirk Williamson was as ever present in his attacking runs and it was he who was to score next with a sniping run to go over out wide. The conversion was successful 21-12 to Aylesford.

Aylesford scored another converted try soon after to take the score to 28-12. The Lions were being frustrated by infringements made by the Aylesford players. On a number of occasions, when being in a promising position, a Lions pass was intercepted by a deliberate knock on. Although this gave territorial advantage by kicking the penalty up field into touch the Lions were unable to capitalise on this. Also on a number of occasions the Aylesford pack were penalised for an early shove. This accumulated in the referee issuing warnings to the Aylesford captain that further infringement would result in sin binning. The Lions lost another player in second row Peter White
Aylesford scored another converted try to take the score to 35-12 at the half stage mark.

The team talk by captain Jordan Thompson at half time was not doom and despair. The Lions were playing good rugby at times and it was only down to some simple mistakes that were letting Aylesford break away and score.

With the Lions playing up the slight slope. It was going to be an interesting half, especially with the shift the players had already put in the first half throwing their bodies on the line with wave after wave of the attacking Bulls. Some may say it resembled The battle of helm's deep from the Lord Of Rings. and some of the Bulls players may have even been suitable extras in the film!!!
To the Lions credit, they played lengthy periods in the Aylesford half, but again could not capitalise with the Lions losing ball at the ruck from turnovers by the aggressive counter rucking by the Bulls or knock ons. The Lions did score another converted try when a good break by Justin Gault saw him combine well with Matthew Stanton and some clever inter-passing between the two eventually saw Mathew Stanton cross the line. The conversion by Kirk Williamson was successful. 35 19 to Aylesford. The Aylesford Number 9 was making nuisance of himself all afternoon with sniping runs which later saw him being awarded their man of the match. The Lions scored the last of their points with another unconverted try to take the score to 35 – 24 to the Lions.

Aylesford continued to add to their score with a converted and non-converted try. The final score being 49-24.

The Lions couldn’t be criticised on the amount of effort they put in to the game, especially in defence. The Aylesford team appeared to defy their numbers with what appeared to be wave after wave of attacking play.
There were periods where the Lions played good attacking rugby which will no doubt see them have better success in the following Vets games as it was regarded the Lions had played the hardest of the games with this fixture

Thanks go to the following for the travelling support

Kit man/ Bringer of Water: Robbie the Brave!

Team Supporters:

Alison Scully, with Team Mascot Diesel the Brave! (it has to be said,, didn't bring much luck but an undisputed amount of enthusiasm!!!!)

Russell English with some of the U15’s who had travelled back from their cup fixture at Westcombe Park /

Neil and Justin Gault's Entourage

Report By Steve Castle

Photography by Vicki White