Folkestone 1stXV overcome Aylesford after conceding a converted try in 3 minutes

FOLKESTONE 1stXV 48 AYLESFORD BULLS 12
5th November 2016 London 3 SE Report from Alan Schofield
Although Folkestone easily won this match against a weakened Aylesford XV their overall performance failed to reach the levels of their previous home game.
Aylesford have had a roller coaster ride over the last few seasons, but now found themselves placed as the only team in the Division without a win and with the worst points deficiency of all and they did nothing to improve on this today. But embarrassingly - for the eighth consecutive match - The Stones conceded a converted try within the first 3 minutes of the game after The Bulls gained ground from the kick off, held the ball in the back of a maul and rolled to the right forcing their way over. 0 – 7.
Seyhan Fell recovered the situation firstly by a penalty kick 3-7 and then with a converted try after Adam Tolman delayed a running pass for Seyhan Fell to run onto it and touch down without a hand being laid on him. 10-7. Some scrappy play saw Aylesford bag a yellow card for a tackle and a comment to referee. A lovely move saw Seyhan Fell catch a 22 metre drop out in his own 22 metre zone, making ground to the right, fed a pass to Adam Tolman who chipped it forward to Jon Morton, following up quickly, - stumbling in the process, but was able to slip a pass to John Eustace who crossed over. Seyhan Fell converting. 17 - 7.
Thomo Murray was led off the field with a shoulder injury, bringing on (and welcome back again) Ben Brooks to take up the right wing position.
The Bulls were finding it difficult to break through the Folkestone defences led by Ben Stringer, Thomas Snare and John Eustace. And Mat Roots, in the unusual position of hooker, led a front row where he and Bob Porter had a combined age of 90! The home scrums were well in control and Sam Beech is proving to be a line-out specialist in addition to his non-stop work whenever there is a loose play situation. It always looked as though The Stones had the edge in all departments, but the game was one of those where the referee’s whistle prevented a good continuous run of play - John Eustace then put in shoulder tackle, without his arms (chest to chest!), and was given a stiff lecture by the referee and yellow carded.
The biting cold wind made the assemblage to be a little disheartened.
Nevertheless James Mead warmed things up when he fly kicked a loose ball from the back of a maul in his own 22 metre zone. He turned the opposition - chased it hard - and put in another strong hack forward, picking it up at full speed and touched down with The Bulls helpless. And before they had recovered Adam Tolman, in his own imitable way, wrong footed his opposition and scored The Stones bonus point fourth try. Seyhan Fell converted both these tries and put the score at 31 - 7 seemingly out of reach to The Bulls at half time.
But Aylesford hit back quickly with a fortunate interception try whilst The Stones were running and passing at will – perhaps carelessly – in the opponent’s 22 metre area. 31 – 12.
Cameron Dallas and James Archer came on to replace Jeremie Cowell and Bob Porter but the game descended into a scrappy period of 25 minutes where mistake after mistake by both teams prevented any sort of entertaining rugby. Jack Brooks showed himself to be a solid tackler in addition to being a thrusting attacker and Kieran Smith entertained the crowd with a 30 metre charge down the left wing. James Mead took the ball in his own 22 metre area and through the centre-field taking play into the opponent’s 10 metre area before another handling error conceded the territory gained.
But The Stones regrouped in the final ten minutes, helped by some strange tactics from The Bulls as they tried to run the ball from their deep defensive zone – failing time after time, and putting Folkestone into offensive positions. Tries seemed inevitable and they duly came firstly from the forwards when they powered The Bulls backwards for fully 15 metres, Mat Roots touching down in the pushover, Seyhan Fell converting. 38-12. Then, in a move going the whole length of field - Seyhan Fell starting it, handing it to Jack Brooks - in turn passing to James Mead, Jon Morton, Adam Tolman and finally Seyhan Fell - re-joining the line, ran through unopposed to score his 23rd point of the match. 43 -12. Seyhan Fell was then substituted by Jeremie Cowell.
Aylesford had little left having been mastered in almost every department and again they were powerless to prevent a fast interchange of passing between the Folkestone backs eventually creating a way clear for Adam Tolman to easily slip a tackle attempt and score The Stones seventh try and finish up worthy and convincing winners 48 – 12.
Next week is a rest week before the battle for the top places in the division recommences at Gillingham. Five clubs seem to be the contenders at this stage of the season and The Stones certainly have earned their place amongst these averaging 32 points per game.
Team: Seyhan Fell; Thomo Murray, Jack Brooks, Jon Morton (Capt.); Adam Tolman, James Mead; Thomas Snare, Mat Roots, Bob Porter; Kieran Smith, Ben Stringer; Sam Beech, Jeremie Cowell, John Eustace.
Subs: James Archer, Cameron Dallas, Ben Brooks.
Scorers: Seyhan Fell 1P, 2T, 5C; John Eustace 1T; James Mead 2T; Adam Tolman 1T; Mat Roots 1T.