On a sticky pitch the home side had more territory in the opening exchanges without creating any scoring threat and there was very little between the teams.The game was developing into something of a stalemate until with fifteen minutes played Kidder’s threes dropped a pass in midfield and Ledbury’s centre snapped up the loose ball to race away unopposed and touched down under the posts for a try simply converted by their No 10 to give them a 7-0 lead.
KC’s responded with some purposeful passages of play and ten minutes later a quickly taken penalty by Rhys Pritchard set up a ruck right on the hosts’ tryline from which Mark Oliver plunged over after good work by fellow prop James Rigsby.Kidder then came under renewed pressure and were reprieved when firstly Ledbury missed a presentable penalty chance and then opted not to kick for goal when given another opportunity in front of the posts just 22 metres out.
Late in the half KC’s were given a boost when the vastly experienced Andy McLellan came off the bench after a long spell out with a torn calf muscle to take up the fullback position with Pritchard moving to centre and he announced his arrival with a fine kick to touch which helped KC’s to finish the half on top but still trailing 7-5 and the game was very much in the balance.
Within five minutes of the restart Kidder again lost the ball on the halfway line and Ledbury moved it left to their winger who skated away and ran around the posts to make the conversion a formality which extended their advantage to 14-5.KC’s were not happy with the way the breakdown was being managed and after an off the ball fracas the ref spoke to both captains,following which Kidder enjoyed their best period of sustained pressure.They camped in the hosts’ 22 for a good ten minutes but could not break down their defence and some ill disciplined back chat gifted Ledbury the chances to clear their lines.Back in the visitors’ 22 and with KC’s trying to run the ball out of defence,an interception try under the posts by the home side’s right wing,duly converted,put them in the comfort zone at 21-5 but their No 4 was then yellow carded and within three minutes winger Nick Martin crossed at the right corner to narrow the arrears to 21-10.
A second Ledbury yellow gave KC’s added impetus and a late flourish against the thirteen men resulted in a try for flyhalf George Morgan to give the scoreline a more respectable look.Neverthless,Ledbury thoroughly deserved their place in the semis.They had a competitive pack,a sound defence,some fleet footed backs, did the basics well and were content to feed off the opposition’s mistakes.KC’s,on the other hand,tended to overcomplicate things.The three tries they conceded all resulted from errors in their threequarters and they will need to raise their game when they return to league action on Saturday at local rivals Droitwich.