Match report to follow shortly
KCRFC 1st XV v Shrewsbury (H) – Saturday 3rd October

KC’s 55 Shrewsbury 17

Yet again fielding a much changed team,KC’s progressed to the semis of the North Mids Shield with this comfortable nine try demolition of Shrewsbury.
The home side were gifted possession when Shrews’ kick off did not go ten metres and a raking kick by fullback Andy McLellan set up early field position in the visitors 22.Kidder then kicked a penalty to touch and from the lineout flanker Mike Protheroe was driven over to open the scoring with only two minutes on the clock.Four minutes later Shrewsbury got on the board when flyhalf Jack Holloway knocked over a 35 metre penalty but KC’s were soon back on the front foot with No 8 Alex Baldwin making good ground from a scrum thirty metres from their own line before linking with his backs who took play deep into Shrews 22 and when an attempted clearance kick was charged down Kidder again put the ball through the hands to enable left wing Alex Thompson to touch down in the corner for a 10-3 lead on the quarter of an hour mark.
From the re-start the visitors won themselves an attacking lineout but were driven back out of the 22 by KC’s forwards and Baldwin initiated another long range counter attack.Shrewsbury managed to repel the threat with a relieving kick but McLellan got in behind them with a lovely long diagonal punt to the right corner which was followed up with a good chase by winger Sam Taylor who took advantage of some hesitant defending to control the ball with his feet before dropping on it to increase the lead to 15-3.
Shortly afterwards Kidder conceded a penalty twenty five metres out but the chance was surprisingly missed by Holloway and Shrewsbury were made to pay when,despite winning possession from an overthrown KC’s lineout,they were hounded into a mistake on their ten metre line and Taylor pounced on the loose ball to run in under the posts for a try which scrumhalf Freddie Morgan converted to put the hosts further ahead,22-3,with half an hour played.
Awarded a penalty for a crossing offence,Shrewsbury opted to go for goal but Holloway’s far from easy attempt was both short and wide..They did,however,win another couple of penalties in quick succession and enjoyed a brief spell of territory but given neither space nor time by Kidder’s press defence and sound tackling they found it difficult to make any meaningful headway.Conversely,George Morgan at pace and Jack Tunstall with a powerful burst from a well worked move at the front of a lineout had Shrewsbury alarm bells ringing but both sorties fizzled out disappointingly and there was no addition to the scoreboard before the break.
Early in the second half a strong run by inside centre James Lloyd Jones turned defence into attack Unfortunately,the ball was spilled in Shrews’ 22 but following a scrum on their own ten metre line moments later flyhalf Rhys Pritchard,wearing the captain’s armband with Chris Pinner out injured,made a scything break before finding George Morgan up in support outside him and the No 13 ran in a fine try.The home side continued to hold the whip hand and five minutes later,after going through a series of phases and running a quickly taken penalty,Alex Baldwin offloaded to Thompson who stretched over the whitewash for his second try.Taylor,taking over the kicking duties,converted capably and KC’s were now cruising at 34-3.
Shrewsbury responded and pounded Kidder’s line until replacement Ben Wintle eventually bulldozed over for a try which their No 10 improved to reduce the arrears to 34-10.Suitably encouraged,after hacking a loose ball into KC’s 22 the visitors were able to exert more pressure and when Kidder lost a scrum on their own put in they were definitely wobbling before Taylor suddenly emerged with the ball from broken play close to their tryline and went the length of the field to complete his hat-trick.The winger converted his own try and with Shrewsbury reeling George Morgan broke from his 22 and raced down left field before putting in a deft grubber kick for replacement Josh Woulfe to gather and score,with Taylor again converting to extend the advantage to 48-10.
Shrewsbury were still not done and after winning three consecutive penalties close to KC’s line their hooker Lewis Jenkins burrowed over and Holloway converted but the hosts finished with a flourish as Pritchard broke from deep before feeding Taylor who,with a couple of outrageous dummies,left the visitors defenders for dead to run in his fourth try which he improved with his fourth conversion.
KC’s return to league action next week when they travel to Camp Hill – KO 3.00 pm