Lordswood 8 Aylesford Bulls 16

Lordswood head coach Paul Essenhigh was far from downhearted despite Saturday’s defeat dropping the club to the foot of London 3 South East.

“That was the strongest team we’ve fielded all season,” said Essenhigh. “We were 80 per cent at full-strength and it showed we’re capable of mixing it with the best when we’re near full strength.”

In atrocious conditions and poor visibility, Lords were unlucky to have what appeared to be a good Sean Evans try disallowed early on.

They then missed with two penalty attempts while Aylesford failed with three before they took a 32nd minute lead with Matt Newton’s penalty.

James Dour equalised with a penalty to make it 3-3 before Aylesford regained the lead with a Luke Cherrington penalty before Karl Hutchings added a try.

Cherrington struck the kick of the day for the conversion to make the score 13-3. And when Bulls were awarded a penalty, Cherrington scored again.

Justin Eldred added a try for Lordswood with five minutes remaining.

More local rugby in Monday's Medway Messenger newspaper.