BULLS LOSE TOP SPOT AND UNBEATEN RUN BUT COACH ALREADY PLOTTING RETURN TO THE SUMMIT

AYLESFORD DUNSTONIANS

Aylesford lost top spot and their unbeaten record on Saturday. Their performance against Old Dunstonians didn’t hit the heights of previous weeks and they had no complaints at the result. They’ve dropped to second place in London 3 South East but will return to the top with a win at new leaders Thanet this weekend. Coach Jay Jenkins said: “It was a strange game. Dunstonians played well and are a good side who have clearly recruited well. “They played simple but effective rugby, whereas we were off-script for most of the game. We started fairly well but never got going after that. “We kept dragging ourselves back into it but we were below-par across the board. It was a disappointing performance in that we drifted away from the levels we have been delivering.” Aylesford took an early 7- 0 lead through Michael Jackson’s try and a Simon Rumsey conversion. Rumsey later added a penalty but Bulls were 11-10 down at half-time. Dunstonians continued to hold the upper hand and while Aylesford got back to 18-18, a soft try handed the visitors victory. John Rumsey’s try and another Simon Rumsey penalty completed Bulls’ tally. Jenkins added: “We’ve been getting progressively better, this was just a bad week. In one way, losing the unbeaten record is a monkey off the back. “It was nice to see a zero on the table but it’s gone now and we just have to focus on Thanet because we’ll need to play better there. “I said to the players after the game, ‘yes, we’re disappointed but compared to this time last year, when we hadn’t won a game, we’re in a far better place.’” Aylesford pulled off a shock victory at Thanet last season. Jenkins said: “We managed to pull a performance out of the bag. We were 17-0 down at half-time and won 19-17. If we want to be up there competing, we’ve got to go into games like this and put on a performance.”