OLD ALLEYNIANS 33 pts v FOLKESTONE 36 pts. 14th December 20

In a remarkable and exciting match Folkestone earned their 4th consecutive win, scoring 6 tries, but with the lead changing hands six times, Folkestone narrowly took the 5 points with a try by James Furlong in the last seconds of the game.

After defending well against a large and aggressive OA’s XV, The Stones conceded a try after 15 minutes but then fought back with deft handling and shrewd kicking to score three tries in the next 15 minutes – Harry Dean with a 50 metre run from his own half gave the perfect pass to Charlie Watson: Ben Stringer saw a gap and charged through to touch down and Alex Price wormed his way through a packed maul for the third. And when the half-time whistle was blown Folkestone looked to have taken control of game leading 7 – 19.

But the start of the second half was a complete reversal as OA’s dominated both territory and possession, disrupting Folkestone’s control, and taking the lead to 26– 19 with three tries in ten minutes. Folkestone regrouped and Seyhan Fell outpaced the defence to score the bonus point try 26 – 24. That was the catalyst for The Stones to take the back the initiative with some solid scrummaging and well directed kicks, and it was a cross field kick that undid OA’s when Jack Cox tackled the receiver, loosening the ball that he picked up and ran over to score and to regain the lead 26 – 29. But minutes later this was lost when OA’s ran through centre field with the Folkestone defence completely wrong footed. 33 – 29 with two minutes left to play. Then it was Folkestone’s ability to control a movement involving eight players and as many passes before OA’s ran out of defenders clearing the way for James Furlong to sprint the final 20 metres to score the winning try with Ollie Jordan Smith conversion taking the final score to 33 – 36.

Next Saturday the reverse fixtures start with a 2 p.m. kick off home match again Aylesford Bulls.