North Midlands RFU Shield Final – May 8th 2016 - Kidderminster Carolians RFC 32 pts. Old Saltlians RFC 15 pts.

Match Report Courtesy of Brian Pinner..

KCs rounded off a stuttering season with victory in the final of the North Midlands RFU Shield competition, a trophy they last won 10 seasons ago. The match was played on the hottest day of the year, with a strong breeze blowing down the pitch. KCs started and ended the match in control, but had to spend long periods in between defending waves of Saltleians attacks.

Playing into the breeze in the first half KCs were on top from the whistle, winning penalties at rucks and scrums and pinning Saltleians in their own 22. With 5 minutes on the clock a line out catch and drive was well executed by KCs and Layton Wilkinson touched down for the first try. A string of penalties awarded against Saltleians resulted in a yellow card for one of their players, and KCs used their advantage to stretch the lead to 13 – 0. A penalty in front of the posts was converted by skipper Chris Pinner, and a few minutes later a strong midfield break by James Lloyd Jones was continued by Ben Turner. He found Pinner in support, who managed to launch a long pass to winger Arthur Morgan just before he was tackled, and Morgan outpaced the cover defence to score in the corner.

Both sides made a number of handling errors, which meant the game did not really flow, but Saltleians gradually worked their way back into the match with some good offloads and strong support play. This pressure forced KCs into conceding penalties, and from a quick tap Saltleians found some space and crossed for their first try after 30 minutes, which was converted to make the score 13 – 7.

Further attacks were halted by some solid KCs defence, until just before half time a converted penalty from Saltleians brought them to within 3 points.

Saltleians were again on the front foot early in the second half, but KCs discipline at the breakdown improved and they were able to absorb the pressure with good tackles and turnover ball, which allowed them to use the wind to clear their lines with long kicks from full back Andy McLellan.

KCs made full use of their replacements, to maintain the team’s energy in the hot conditions, and although Saltleians were keeping possession well they did not really threaten the KCs’ try line. Somewhat against the run of play KCs increased their lead on 17 minutes when fly half Freddie Morgan spotted a gap in the defence on the half way line. He accelerated away, and as the cover tackler brought him down a clever offload out of the back of his hand found his brother George in support. He still had plenty of work to do, but showed no ill effects from his recent injury lay-off and powered over under the posts, giving Pinner a simple conversion for a 20 – 10 lead.

Saltleians renewed their efforts, and the KCs’ defence had to up their work rate to repel a further wave of attacks, which they managed to do without incident. The extra training that KCs had been put through since their last game three weeks ago started to pay off in the final 10 minutes, and as Saltleians tired KCs took advantage. Pinner stole possession at a ruck on half way and Freddie Morgan delayed his pass to perfection to put his brother George through a hole in the defence. George drew the last defender and passed to winger Josh Winfield, who ran in to score in the corner.

Saltleians now had to risk everything, and KCs forced them into mistakes in their own half. Replacement centre Richard Solomon made a couple of crunching tackles, and one of these forced a knock on in the Saltleians 22. The loose ball was picked up and fed to McLellan who found space, before an inside pass to another replacement, Laurence Hughes, created a further try for KCs, converted by Pinner.

To their credit Saltleians did not give up, and they regained possession from the kick off. They collected a kick out of defence and ran the ball back with interest, retaining possession through a number of phases until they created an overlap on the right wing for a consolation try to make the final score 32 – 15 to KCs.

An excellent team effort, with all 22 squad members, and support staff, playing their part in a fantastic end to the season. KCs will look to take this success into next season, when they will be looking to improve on their 5th place in the league table and to enjoy more progress in the cup competitions.