KCRFC 1st XV v Newbold on Avon (H) – Saturday 29th November

KC’s 27 Newbold 46

KC’s exited the RFU Intermediate Cup in the third round after being outscored four tries to seven by in form Newbold who have lost only one game this season.
Kidder did well to withstand an early onslaught by the visitors and after ten minutes under the hammer began to take the game to the opposition following a breakout by centre Laurence Hughes and wing Jordan Hatch.A break by flyhalf Rhys Pritchard from a scrum on KC’s ten metre line,some good carries by No 8 Layton Wilkinson and a crunching tackle by Hughes put them on the front foot and the promising passage of play was rewarded when a kick to nothing by Josh Winfield was fumbled under the posts and the young winger,who was chasing his punt with more optimism than expectation,was gifted a try which fullback Sam Taylor converted to give the hosts a 7-0 lead with twenty minutes played.
A shaken Newbold kicked the re-start straight into touch and from the scrum on halfway Winfield left two defenders in his wake before kicking when perhaps he should have backed himself and kept the ball in hand.The Warwickshire side,realising they had a battle on their hands,responded five minutes later when Kidder could not snuff out an attack down their left and when the ball was switched inside No 4 Ben Thompson breached the first up defence and his pass to fellow lock Mick Pails put him in for a try which was improved by centre Ethan Wokey to level the scores.Three minutes later a Wokey penalty put the visitors ahead 10-7 but,prompted by scrumhalf Chris Pinner,KC’s mounted another wave of attacks and should have retaken the lead but for a knock on with the line beckoning.They were made to pay for the missed chance when,not for the first time,a fairly aimless kick out of defence was run back at them and Newbold’s No 14 Rory Blood took advantage to extend the lead to 15-7.
A pincer tackle by centres Hughes and Rich Sollom showed that Kidder were still up for the fight and with the last kick of the half a well struck penalty by Taylor reduced the deficit to 15-10.
Newbold started the second half determined to stamp their authority on the game and within two minutes Blood finished excellently in the right corner.The visitors were well on top and when Wilkinson was yellow carded they unsurprisingly opted for a scrum against KC’s depleted pack and perfectly executed what appeared to be a training ground routine with No 11 James McGill coming off his wing to touch down under the posts,Wokey converting for a 27-10 lead.
Showing great character,Kidder again threw everything at Newbold and five minutes of sustained pressure was capped by a Pinner try.The visitors,with Hughes in their faces, then got themselves into trouble by allowing a KC’s kick to bounce on halfway and the loose ball was swiftly moved to Winfield who looked likely to score until brought down by a last ditch tackle but the cavalry arrived and second row Alex Baldwin was on hand to touch down and close the gap to just 27-20.KC’s then had a let off when Wokey missed an easy penalty chance but Newbold went up a gear with an incisive midfield break almost putting Blood in again before he was tackled into touch.
Newbold continued to dominate territory but dogged defence hounded them into mistakes until their No 15 made ground down the right touchline and passed inside to Blood for a neat try which completed his hat-trick.Ten minutes later centre Eddie Scott went over from a scrum on KC’s 22 and Wokey added the extras for a 39-20 lead.Although there were only ten minutes left to play KC’s did not accept defeat readily and after Pritchard and Hatch made significant inroads to set up a series of rucks on the visitors line they got over the whitewash but were rightly denied a try by a double movement.
Blood was then yellow carded for a pretty innocuous challenge which was deemed to be dangerous but the resulting penalty for KC’s sparked a flowing passage of play which set up another series of rucks on Newbold’s line and lock Jack Tunstall eventually stretched over for a try,converted by Pinner to cut the arrears to 39-27.Newbold,however,had the last word when their No 10,captain Phil Reed,touched down and Wokey converted to secure their place in the next round.
Despite the scoreline,KC’s can take a lot of positives from this heartening performance which yielded four tries against a very accomplished outfit and although they have had a difficult November they will be looking to pick up points next Saturday when they resume league action at struggling Stafford.