The Aylesford Bulls Ladies side ended Oakmedians sixteen game unbeaten run at the weekend.

Aylesford Bulls Ladies welcomed Oakmedians to the Jack Williams Ground on a bright but windy day for the first time in many years.

Oakmedians arrived with an impressive record of 14 wins from 14 in Championship 2 South west last season scoring 727 points and only conceding 60. Add to that the two wins they have had since switching to the South East league this season that gave them 16 league wins on the trot discounting their promotion play off loss at the end of last season.

The Bulls started with the wind at a high tempo and a couple of strong carries from lock Michele Mayhew and No 8 Catherine Spencer made plenty of ground. As early as the 4th minute the Bulls were deep in Oaks territory with most of their players sucked in on the right the ball was spun out to the other flank and given to German 7’s flyer Rafica Schneider who came off her own wing to create the overlap and went over unopposed, open side Liz Philp added the extras.

For the next quarter of an hour the game was played in the middle of the field as the Bulls forwards got drawn into a forward battle although when the ball did move wide the entire back line looked dangerous making many half breaks. One such break ended in Oaks giving away a penalty in front of their posts as they struggled to contain the continuous Bulls attacks. Philp stepped up to add the three points.

The ladies were really starting to pile on the pressure in defence as well as in attack; Oaks were shut down and hit back at force when they did have possession throughout the game. Although they enjoyed plenty of possession the Bulls found themselves often penalised when in the kill zone. With 2 minutes remaining more pressure opened up a gap for centre Lisa Bohrmann to skip through from the 22 to leave the half time score at 15-00 to the Bulls.

Oaks turned around with the wind in their favour but the Bulls stepped back up to the tempo and style of play seen in previous games and the pressure was on from the off. With 5 minutes gone Outstanding No.8 Spencer picked up from the back of the scrum on the 22 burst through 2 tackles then put on the gas to claim the score Philp knocked over the extras.

The Bulls really started to come to life now as back rowers Alice Pettitt, Philp and Spencer made big gains. Captain Claire Phillips also enjoyed a couple of bustling runs. A ball hacked away by Oaks was picked up on the 22 by Bohrmann who easily went round the cover to score. Oaks hit back immediately and scored off the back of a scrappy scrum in what was their only venture into The Bulls 22 during the second half. Disappointed with conceding a soft try the Bulls found yet another gear and were now in total control in the set piece with the Front row of Schorah, Vicky Sieben and Phillips shunting the Oaks pack off their own ball and centres Clair Richardson and Bohrmann getting lots of ball in the offloads with great support play.

For the remaining 25 minutes of the game Aylesford were pretty much camped in the opposition 22 now looking for the bonus point try. Oaks only option was to try and use the wind to kick down field but every time they did it was returned with interest by wingers Sam Olliver, Schneider and also veteran full back Susan French who put in some massive hand offs.

The Bulls squandered three or four good scoring opportunities where simple hands would have done when knowing time was almost up Fijian fly half Ema Vereivalu took the ball at pace hit a straight line on the 22 ran straight over her opposite number and cruised in under the posts. Philp converted to leave the final score at 34-05.

The match official awarded forward of the match to former England captain Catherine Spencer and back of the match to German 7’s star Rafica Schneider.

Team: French, Schneider, Borhmann, Richardson, Olliver, Vereivalu, Dootson, Spencer, Philp, Pettitt, Smith, Mayhew, Phillips, Sieben, Schorah.

Subs: Tebb, Ravalo, Binskin-Barnes, Cozens, Lynch, Parker, Brimsted.