by Alex Hoad at Twickenham

Aylesford Bulls suffered Twickenham heartbreak with a narrow 16-10 defeat to Stoke-on-Trent in the RFU Intermediate Cup Final on Saturday.

The Bulls were roared on by more than 500 supporters in the showpiece final but were unable to make the most of their first half dominance as the Staffordshire side came back to win.

The Bulls began brightly and left wing Steve Stewart was forced into touch on a break forward inside six minutes, only for Stoke to open the scoring five minutes later on their first foray into their opponents’ 22 with a penalty from Steve Talbot.

Bulls snatched the lead on 22 minutes when another powerful drive from a scrum in the Stoke 22 paved the way for Richard Weir to burst forward, and after he was held up on the line the ball was moved right to flanker Sam Carroll to cut inside and dive over from close range.

Dan Harvey sent his conversion attempt wide but four minutes before the interval the Bulls appeared to have made the breakthrough when Harvey set Stewart free down the left and the winger looked to have touched down in the corner at full stretch, only for the officials to adjudge that Chris Rowley’s superb tackle had taken Stewart into touch, sparking a chorus of boos from the vocal Bulls faithful.

However after the break Stoke were a different team and they snatched an almost immediate lead when the Bulls were penalised allowing Talbot the chance to slot them 6-5 ahead from distance.

Moments later Talbot spurned the chance to extend the lead, sending a penalty wide, but on 53 minutes Stoke made it 11-5, Rowley setting-up powerhouse Simon Price to pile over after a spell of resolute defending by the Bulls.

Bulls did eventually reduce the deficit when the ball was moved swiftly from the right touchline to the left following a break by Summers and wing Anasa Takala, with lock Pete Webdale eventually going over in the corner.

Harvey was unable to add the tricky conversion, leaving the Bulls a point behind, but with seconds remaining Summers was unable to gather a pass behind his own try line which allowed Wayne Dicken the chance to dive on the ball to seal the win, though Talbot’s conversion again missed.

Bulls skipper Carroll revealed: "The players are all gutted. We had opportunities but we just couldn’t make them count.

"It was an incredible experience and we had fantastic support from the crowd, they were unbelievable. It's just a shame we couldn't get the win.

"We will come back next week even more determined to win in our promotion play-off – we don’t lose twice in a row."

Head coach Glyn Mitchell added: "I thought we had the opportunities to win it but to be fair they were a decent team and they improved a lot in the second half.

"They kicked well, relieved pressure when they needed to and their number nine was outstanding.

"It was a fantastic achievement to get here and it has been an incredible experience. We want to look ahead to next week now and finish on a high."