Dorking Women 36 – 10 Aylesford Bulls Women
Speed wins the day over power
By Kevin Beal
Dorking women’s speedster back line literally ran away with this match as they used the full width of the pitch to take the sting out of the Bull’s far larger but less mobile side. As was obvious from the off, the visitor’s game plan was to use their heft and bludgeon their way to victory, but fine tackling from 1 thru 20 by the home side soon put paid to that, and as the afternoon wore on the visitor’s supremacy in the set piece was whittled away as they began to tire allowing the home side to claim a hard earned victory.
Playing downhill in the first half, the Bulls were first on the score sheet with a well taken penalty from the boot of inside centre Ameila Gibbs following several pick and drives form the pack forcing a penalty as Dorking infringed in defence. Dorking’s response was to move the ball about and increase the pace of the game and after a couple of false starts, Esme Arundell was put in the clear and over under the posts. Converting her try, she put the red & whites 7-3 into the lead at the end of the first quarter. Fielding the Bull’s restart kick off, Dorking were back on the score sheet immediately as Steph Shackel went over in the corner, and with the conversion falling just short, into a 12-3 lead.
The Bulls defence upped the ante and despite Dorking having the lions (or lionesses??) share of the possession, their plays didn’t quite come off and the resulting set piece scrums, where the Bulls had superiority slowed the game to their advantage. Despite this Dorking were mostly able to keep hold of the ball on their put in, and as their tackling held firm, along with a take against the head they looked to be taking a 9 point lead into half time. A well worked backs move shortly before the break saw Arundell coming into the attack to score under the posts and convert her second try of the afternoon extending the lead to 19 -3 at the interval whistle.
Refreshed by the break, the Bulls held off the Dorking attacks until the 15th minute of the second half when quick ball from the forwards zipped down the line and Shackel rounded her opponent to dab down for her second, followed shortly by a fine, and popular solo effort down in ‘coffin corner’ from prop Lucia Schiffano, extending the lead to 29-3. The Bulls however were not for laying down, and as they emptied their bench fresh legs brought fresh impetus and a try under the posts for Mollie Mayhew, converted by Gibbs. This seemed to galvanise their defence and revitalise their attack and it was Dorking’s turn to knuckle under in defence. A nasty looking injury to one of the Bull’s forwards rather took the steam out of the game (thankfully it was not as bad as feared and she was seen supping a restorative ale in the bar post match), but in the final move of the game, Dorking’s Rachel Higgins, formerly of the backs and now an effective forward crossed the line for their 6th try which she successfully converted to end the match. 36 – 10.
Co Head Coach Ben Puttick Said:
“I am really proud of the team today constantly rising to the challenge and next step up. They implemented everything that we have been working on in training and we're just layering on the details week by week and improving.
Next up for the 1s is Hove away in two weeks time who have come down from the league above and the 2s have top of the table Cranleigh away next week
So a big couple of weeks to come looking forward to seeing how far this squad can go”
Teams:
Dorking: Arundel, Wood, Shakel, Kinsella, Potgeiter, Trigger, Andrews, Parsons, Thomas, Schifano, Bainbridge, Miller, Dentus, Lackey Brown ©. Replacements- Warrenn Farrington, Higgins, Makroun, Clarke
Star Player – Lucia Schifano (Dorking)
Star back – Esme Arundell
Star forward – Lauren Parsons
1st team debuts - Ella Thomas, Georgie Farrington
Club debut – Izzy Makroum
Aylesford Bulls: Smith, Cripps, Mayhew Y, Gibbs, Armstrong, Clough, King, Zdunek, Gopalakrishnan, Kershaw, Mayhew M, O’Leary ©, Roworth, Hay, Mason. Replacements- Barnes, Oldershaw, Vydelingum, Mayhew Mo, Hall, Ashdown
