Saturday 21st September. 2019. London 3SE. Report By: Alan Schofield.

Aylesford scored 12 points in the final minutes to show an imbalance of the, game as a whole, but Folkestone went down to a team that showed a little more brio in key areas.

It surprised the small band of Folkestone supporters, who had slowly progressed down the M20’s ridiculous road structure and limitations, that both teams went through their warm-up routines in Canarian temperatures of 26°C – and after 80 minutes of hard fought rugby, heat exhaustion possibly played it’s part in the final minutes.

Immediately after the Aylesford kick off, Callum Palmieri put them back 65 metres with a massive punt into touch, Folkestone won the line out swung the ball along the three-quarters, each one, Adam Tolman, John Eustace and then Mat Roots charging hard for the line – stopped by the pantagruelian back five that Aylesford fielded – but when the ball was passed back again to John Eustace from a retreated 10 metres – he came through at full speed and crashed through to score after only 2½ minutes. 0 – 5.

But, as last week, the team were disrupted when Jake Ellis had a shoulder injury that brought on Bob Porter and a reshuffle of the pack where Mat Roots, playing in his 22nd season with the Club, was the lynch pin.

Aylesford showed attacking moves often started with ground gained by excellent kicking, and Folkestone were stretched to contain the follow up moves. But mistakes abounded and relief came from these. The new guidelines from the RFU give no tolerance to any tackle higher than the shoulder – and through the game this provided 4 penalties and one yellow card.

Another penalty, one of the 21 throughout the game, for an off-side offence provided Seyhan Fell with the opportunity to increase the lead – and that he duly did, from 50 metres but minutes later Aylesford popped over their own three points for a Folkestone off-side. 3 – 8.

Folkestone’s back row and the three-quarters were very quick to cover the Aylesford threat from a dangerous looking combination in their 9 and 10, often forcing kicks that were well placed and effective. Jack Brooks snapped up a ball and made a 40 metre break, 20 metres of which were with an opponent hanging onto his jersey – Jon Morton was able to continue this as Aylesford put in a very physical tackle on Liam Trinder that displeased the referee giving Seyhan Fell a penalty that he took easily. 3 -11.

Aylesford struck back with a fast-moving attack through to the right wing, stopped abruptly by John Eustace, but this time the referee took a different view to the earlier one and showed a Yellow Card to the offender, reducing Folkestone to 14 men. In extended stoppage time a series of attacks from Aylesford using crash runs from centre field were resisted, but eventually they found the gap in the reduced defence and broke through to score and convert. 10 -11.

Both teams found welcome shade in which to take their half time break. Aylesford started the second half with some very strong running – left, right and centre that the Folkestone defence was pressed to stop. Shane Hills came on and Matt Root took a breather. Jon Morton relieved a difficult time with a well-placed kick, but Aylesford retaliated with a kick to in the in-goal area that Seyhan Fell had to hurriedly touch down.

The pressure from Aylesford was beginning to tell but some superb defending by Alex Price, Liam Trinder and Scott Stewart resisted everything that the home team had. But it was a disputed penalty that broke the patter and gave Aylesford the lead. It came from a tackle by Adam Tolman that confused the touchline ‘experts’ and the players, but the kick was straight, and three points were earned, to be increased by a good try minutes later when quick running and passing gave the right wing a chance to break through a tackle and complete the run to touch down under the posts. 18 -11.

The game entered a period where decisions went against Folkestone and Dave Ballard and Colby Hayward were prominent in the defensive walls that were made necessary. Stephen Callis was brought on to replace John Eustace with an injured foot and he nearly scored an opportunist try – just failing to touch down from a kick forward. Adam Tolman broke through the middle but was collared before he could release the pass to Seyhan Fell.

Seyhan Fell took a long range penalty to bring the score to 18 – 14 and now Folkestone showed they also had skill, strength and ability as Jack Brooks forced his way forward towards the line – followed by Seyhan Fell and Adam Tolman. A tactically deliberate off-side stopped the move and the momentum and Folkestone had to settle for a penalty kick under the posts when a try was foreseeable. Seyhan Fell duly obliged bringing the score to 18 -17 with 8 minutes remaining.

Within minutes Aylesford had retaliated scoring a try from what appeared to be a knock on. 23-17. Folkestone came back, crossed the line but it was deemed to be held up. Jon Morton was Yellow Carded for an outburst of frustration and from the restart Aylesford broke away in the last minute to score again before the final whistle gave Aylesford the victory they deserved but by a margin that did not reflect the balance of the game. 30-17.

Team: Adam Tolman; Thomo Murray, Jack Brooks, John Eustace, Seyhan Fell (Capt.); Jon Morton,Callum Palmieri; Mat Roots, Austin Hogben, Dave Ballard; Jake Ellis, Colby Hayward, Alex Price, Liam Trinder, Scott Stewart.
Subs: Shane Hills, Bob Porter, Stephen Callis.

Scorers: John Eustace 5; Seyhan Fell 3, 3, 3, 3.