Aylesford Bulls ladies travelled to familiar opponents Richmond, who have got the best of the Bulls ladies in recent seasons and boast a team in each of the three top tears of ladies rugby.

In what was always going to be a tough fixture against their unbeaten opponents the Bulls were short of eight of their squad from last week, so it was a real test of the squad depth.

The Bulls started at ferocious pace clearing the rucks with ease and dominating early scrums. With quick ball being produced fly half Lisa Borhmann spread the ball wide to her German national 7’s team counterparts playing in the centres Clair Richardson and Rafica Schneider who drew in their opposite numbers to create an overlap for debutant Mollie Lynch who was making her first start for the Bulls since progressing from the U 18’s, also representing Kent and South East region at U 18 level as well as attending the RFUW higher performance academy.

Lynch took the ball at pace just outside the 22 then bamboozled the Richmond full back with her footwork to go over in the corner with just ten minutes played. The Bulls kept the pressure on and at 25 minutes Lynch who was causing the opposition problems every time she attacked received the ball out wide and got within a whisker of the line she popped the ball up to supporting lock Angela Smith who crashed over in the corner.

The bulls were soon to be up against it when hooker Vicky Sieben went down with a knee injury, regular blindside Alice Pettitt moved to hooker, prop Kelly Tebb moved to lock and Michelle Faithful moved to the back row. Kate Merlini came off the bench to prop, all three of the previous making their first appearances of the season for the 1st XV.

To make this worse for the already depleted Bulls only five minutes after Sieben left the field inside centre Clair Richardson had to leave the game with a hamstring injury. Sally Parker moved from the wing to the centres and Michelle Krijgsman came on to the wing both of whom were also making their first appearances of the season. With all of the changes disorganisation crept into the Bulls defence and they let Richmond over in the corner after a period of pressure.

Richmond started the second half brightly and were starting to make inroads with their strike runners but a stunning move down the flank from inside their own half involving Schneider and Bohrmann who were now putting the Richmond defence in disarray every time they attacked, ended with Borhmann being tackled just short but she managed to offload to supporting full back Sue French who crashed over for her first of the season. It wasn’t long before Richmond were back in attack and a missed tackle in the centres let them in for their second which was converted to leave the score at 12-15 with 20 minutes to go.

The Bulls seemed to tighten up in defence now and put the pressure back on the hosts. Liz Philp, Angela Smith and Claire Phillips set the platform in the 22 and lock Michele Mayhew finished off from short range, Philp added the extras.

The Bulls had the upper hand now and any Richmond attacks were thwarted. Anyone that did get through was dealt with by veteran full back French who put in two crushing tackles. With time running out the Bulls were pushing for the bonus point try, it was delivered on 75 minutes by Bohrmann who capped a fine performance with the final try in the corner after a strong carry from Krijgsman which gave the Bulls a 12-27 win.

Forward of the match was awarded to back rower Liz Philp who was involved in everything all day and put her body on the line many times, back of the match went to 18 year old Mollie Lynch who has a bright future in front of her.

Team: French, Parker, Schneider, Richardson, Lynch, Bohrmann, Dootson, Tebb, Sieben, Phillips, Faithful, Smith, Pettitt, Philp, Mayhew.

Subs: Merlini, Gent, Ravalo, Krijgsman