A very entertaining and high scoring match which produced ten tries,seven of them to the home side,saw KC’s progress to the third round of the Midlands Intermediate Cup at the expense of Berkswell & Balsall who currently lie second in Mids 2 West (S) and arrived at Marlpool Lane with a 100% record so far this season in league and cup.
A high, hanging kick off by flyhalf Andy McLellan into a blustery wind gave Kidder every chance to compete for the ball in the air and it was tapped back by second row Jack Tunstall to set in motion a wave of attacks during the opening two minutes which ended with a try by the side of the posts for skipper Chris Pinner,improved by the scrumhalf himself,but four minutes later Berkswell’s hooker Nick Waite burrowed over from a five metre lineout and his try was well converted by centre Jon Lowdon to level the scores at 7-7 with only six minutes on the clock.
Five minutes further in KC’s put the ball through hands from lineout possession on the visitors 22 and after a great pick up off his laces by centre Rhys Pritchard kept the move going Tunstall headed for the line and when he was stopped play was brought back for a penalty which Pinner nailed for a 10-7 lead.Shortly afterwards,using possession from a five metre throw and playing an advantage Berkswell threw an ambitious long pass to their left wing which was obviously forward and the referee awarded them a penalty virtually in front of the posts for the previous offence by Kidder.Lowdon’s kick looked almost unmissable but clearly went under the crossbar and was signalled as unsuccessful by both touch judges but the referee’s decision to re-start the game from the halfway line caused much scratching of heads as it really should have been a 22 drop out.Confusion reigned until halftime when the ref clarified that in his opinion the kick had been good and quite correctly, as the final decision is of course always the prerogative of the referee,the score stood and the additional three points meant that following the kick the scores were in fact then level at 10-10 rather than still 10-7 as everyone else,players and spectators alike, had assumed.Fortunately,the controversy had no bearing on the eventual result.
In keeping with the nature of the game,the next fifteen minutes were very much cut and thrust but five minutes before the interval a long wind assisted Berkswell kick went dead to give KC’s a scrum inside the visitors ten metre line from which they moved the ball right before switching back inside to No 8 Alex Baldwin.He was stopped just short but at the ruck on the line hooker Chris Jones was on hand to drive over and the try put Kidder back ahead 15-10 but,with the last kick of the half Lowdon knocked over a long range penalty to reduce the gap to just two points at the break.
Five minutes into the second half Berkswell took the lead for the first time when their elusive fullback Henry Chamberlain made good ground down the right before finding his winger Oliver Eburne in space on the outside and he ran in from twenty five metres.The No 14 soon had the ball in hand again and his kick ahead to the corner looked threatening until Pinner,reading the situation well,covered across to snuff out the danger.
Unsurprisingly,KC’s revamped threequarter line had struggled for cohesion but suddenly everything clicked into place and the hosts blew Berkswell away with four tries in the space of twelve minutes.Firstly,McLellan used the wind to send a long raking penalty kick to the right corner and from the five metre throw the flyhalf popped a short pass back inside to Pinner on his shoulder in support and he breezed across the line for his second touchdown.Then from a scrum twenty five metres out a well timed pass by Josh Woulfe sent in fellow centre Pritchard.Next,McLellan hacked a loose ball down the right side of the field and showing good footballing skills he kept control of it for some fifty yards or so to hold off three chasing defenders and then drop on the ball as he dribbled it over the tryline.The home side now really had their tails up and from turnover ball Alex Royall sent a fine kick down the left touchline and with the clearance return to touch not making much distance some great Kidder handling from the resultant lineout put replacement hooker Grant Jones in the clear and when he was tackled the ball was moved right to Tunstall who crashed over.All four scores were well converted by Pritchard,taking over the kicking duties,and having come from 18-15 down to lead 43-18 KC’s were almost out of sight.
Berkswell,however,were not yet ready to lie down and when Eburne scored an opportunist second try from a quickly taken tap penalty under the posts,easily improved by Lowdon,the visitors were not completely out of it at 43-25 with nearly quarter of an hour still to play and they piled on the pressure with a series of close range scrums and lineouts.Kidder were struggling to get out of their own 22 and it took some determined defence to keep Berkswell at bay but having weathered the storm Pinner and McLellan combined to work an opening for Woulfe with the last play of the afternoon and his try put the game to bed.
Next fixture – Walsall (A) on Saturday 1st October – KO 3.00 pm.
A couple of amendments need to be made to my report.
We are now through to the 2nd round of the Midlands Intermediate Cup, not the 3rd and Berkswell are currently third in Mids 2 West (S),not second.

Sorry guys – my apologies