Bulls Hit by Cobham forward dominance
Aylesford Bulls 15 Cobham 23
Cobham battled their way to a hard earned fourth successive win on Saturday on their first away sortie into Kent of the season. Aylesford Bulls, whose performance belied their winless start to the season, made Cobham fight every inch of the way; and in a match perhaps slightly spoiled by a strong blustery wind, it was the total dominance of the Cobham forwards at the scrum which was ultimately the difference between the sides.
With the wind behind them in the first half, Cobham at first looked set to rampage through the Aylesford side, taking the first three scrummages against the head as the powerful front row trio of Richard Nunn, Heinrich Duplessis and Andy Alexander, with locks Bill Davison and Jamie Durward, totally demolished their opposition front five. Alyesford’s back row, however, proved to be slightly less than co-operative, and constantly thwarted Cobham’s efforts to get their driving game going, by knocking the Cobham players back on the gain line with some determined and aggressive tackling.
Three first half penalties from fly half Arran Cowell to one from the Aylesford no. 10 Dan Harvey gave Cobham the half time lead, but given the strong influence of the wind and the obvious advantage in the tight, it was scant reward for a frustrating first half in which the Cobham backline never really managed to produce a meaningful attack; although they were perhaps a touch unlucky in that the final drive of the game took them to within feet of the Aylesford line only for the referee to blow for a scrum before checking her watch and deciding it was half time. Few would dispute that given the scrum dominance they were enjoying, Cobham would have come away with a score had the half time whistle not intervened
The lead was to be short lived. Soon after the restart, a speculative kick from the Bulls full back Mark Dorman hung horribly in the air, allowing him to follow up and regather at pace. Catching the Cobham defense off-balance, he offloaded to lock Paul Hyland, who plunged over for a well taken try, converted by Harvey.
This proved to be the kick in the proverbial that Cobham required. Introducing the experienced Paddy Seymour at tight head only added to the Bulls misery at scrumtime, and replacement flanker Matt Johnson gave the loose play a little more impetus; and within a few minutes Cobham had regained the lead as open side Simon Ackroyd, who enjoyed yet another excellent game, touched down near to the posts, which Cowell converted.
Aylesford, however, were not yet beaten. Although totally butchering one overlap, failing to score with three backs attacking the sole defender, lock Bill Davison; a penalty in the sixtieth minute saw the Aylesford fullback, Mark Dorman, score wide out; which Harvey failed to convert, to take them to within one point.
With ten minutes to go, a kick ahead from Simon Ackroyd was fumbled in a mix up on the Aylesford line; and with a 5 metre scrum in the middle of the field, there was never really any doubt what the outcome would be; and as the Bulls back row stayed down in an attempt to stop the Cobham forwards from driving over, Jack Davison at 8 picked up and virtually strolled over unopposed, converted by Arran Cowell, for a final score of 23 points to 15.
Ultimately, the devastation wreaked on the Aylesford pack in the tight was Cobham’s main advantage. Taking nine against the head, and with the referee reversing the put in on another three occasions where the Bulls pack had disintegrated before getting the ball away from the scrum, meant Aylesford had little quality possession to play with, and it is to their credit that the determination of their defensive game kept them in the running. The line outs were something of a lottery, because of the influence of the wind, and the handling of both sets of backs, perhaps again because of the wind, was suspect throughout. Flanker Simon Ackroyd was the pick of the Cobham side in a less than totally convincing team performance; but they will have better days; and will be happy to have come away with the points on this occasion. Aylesford, to their credit, put in a lot of effort, and did not look like a side that will stay for long at the bottom end of the table.
This result puts Cobham up to third in the league; the position they finished in last season. Next week Cobham entertain Dover at Fairmile Lane, who have also had a good start to the season, and will undoubtedly be looking to improve on this week efforts.
