KC s will feel that they should have won this game after establishing a 24 – 0 lead shortly before half time, but not the first time this season their poor discipline and sloppy handling let them down.KCs got off to the ideal start when they caught their own kick off, retained possession through a couple of phases, and then caught Veseyans offside 30 metres out in front of the posts. Chris Pinner slotted over the penalty for a 3 – 0 lead, and KCs continued to attack. Following a couple of wasted efforts after possession was lost at attacking lineouts and scrums, KCs finally won clean ball and a short pass to George Morgan on the half way line put him into space and behind the first line of defence. His pace and power then took him away from the cover tacklers and he scored close to the posts to give Pinner a simple conversion for a 10 – 0 lead.

Veseyans came back into the game after their slow start, and the visitors were grateful for a Mike Protherough interception, and then a turnover at a ruck, that both stopped try-scoring opportunities. The Veseyans backs showed plenty of enterprise, and were getting behind the KCs defence with offloads out of the tackle, whereas KCs were going to ground and slowing their attacking play down.

After 20 minutes KCs increased their lead when Laurence Hughes collected a kick out of defence and ran the ball back. Good support play from Tom Maher and George Morgan put Rich Sollom into space and he touched down under the posts, with Pinner adding the conversion. Further attacking opportunities came to nothing until a couple of miss passes in midfield gave Arthur Morgan a clear run at the line. He withheld a strong tackle to touch down in the corner, and Pinner’s conversion from the touch line stretched the lead to 24 – 0. The scoreline was a fair reflection of the dominance and territory enjoyed by KCs at this stage, and could have been even greater if they had not lost possession at crucial times.
To their credit Veseyans always kept battling, and they put KCs under pressure at the end of the half, scoring a converted try to narrow the lead and give them renewed hope for the second half.

After not conceding a penalty for the first 30 minutes of the match KCs started to fall foul of the referee in the second half, and often compounded their mistakes by giving away two or three penalties in quick succession. This allowed a lively Veseyans side to keep KCs pinned in their own half, with quickly taken tap penalties, and their pressure resulted in a well-deserved comeback.

KCs struggled to win clean possession on their own ball at scrums and lineouts, and a string of unforced handling errors meant they could rarely put together any phases of play. A Veseyans catch and drive from an attacking lineout, which was brought down illegally, resulted in a yellow card for Alex Baldwin and a further penalty. However KCs managed to clear their lines by running the ball out of defence, and a Veseyans player was then shown a yellow card for not using his arms in a tackle.
Sam Faulkner made a couple of strong runs from full back in an effort to turn defence into attack, but the support play could not continue the moves, and Veseyans kept KCs pinned in their own half. With 15 minutes of the second half played their pressure paid off as they scored a converted try after driving the KCs scrum back towards their own line.

The momentum had now shifted in favour of the home side, and KCs continued to make mistakes whilst under pressure. Stout defence kept Veseyans out until they kicked a penalty, with 10 minutes remaining, to bring the score to 24 – 17.

They drew level five minutes later after Pinner was yellow carded for a high tackle, the resulting penalty was kicked to the 22 metre line, and another catch and drive from the line out created space on the blind side for the wing forward to dive over in the corner. An excellent conversion from the touch line made the score 24 – 24, and KCs were down to 14 men with 5 minutes remaining.

KCs managed to raise their game for the final stages of the match, and finished on the attack. However they could not break down the home side’s defence for the winning score, and had to settle for a draw.

KCs will play Veseyans again in two weeks time (Easter Saturday) in the semi-final of the North Midlands Shield, at home, and will need an improved performance if they are to reach the final of this competition for the second year in succession. Before then however they have the small matter of playing against promotion chasing Saltleians in front of a large President’s Day crowd at Marlpool Lane next Saturday – 3:00pm kick off.