An error strewn second half performance saw KC’s exit the North Mids Shield with barely a whimper in their first competitive fixture of the 2011-2012 season.

The match could hardly have got off to a worse start for the home side as the visitors ran the kick off back at them from their own 22,slicing through Kidder’s midfield to win a penalty just five metres out.A couple of phases later and they were under the posts for a converted try and a 7-0 lead with only a minute on the clock.From the restart KC’s won a penalty in front of the posts,converted by Andy McLellan,and with ten minutes played he added another three points after a fine break by debutant scrumhalf Chris Pinner,backed up by good tackling and rucking,had established field position.

On the quarter of an hour mark KC’s conceded possession unnecessarily with a missed penalty kick to touch and they had to withstand a sustained period of Pershore pressure but their defence held firm and eventually Pinner was able to use the favourable breeze to clear their lines and take play back up to the visitors 22.Kidder kept Pershore hemmed in by twice disrupting their lineout and winning a penalty,which was unfortunately missed,but good lineout ball of their own fed skipper John Mounter and the No 10 spun out of a tackle for an unconverted try.
Ten minutes before the break a good take under a high ball by Mark James,filling in at fullback,set hooker Tom Maher off on an incisive run which resulted in another penalty opportunity.KC’s kicked to the corner and from the lineout No 8 Layton Wilkinson drove over for a trademark try.Pershore responded with a wave of attacks but again KC’s defence was up to the job and they harried the visitors into mistakes but were unable to add any more points and had to be content with a 16-7 interval lead which could have been greater but for several missed kicks at goal.

The start of the second period was a case of déjà vu as Pershore again scored a try inside the first minute.KC’s dropped the kick off,which seemed to set the tone for the whole of the half,and from the attacking scrum the visitors made them pay with an unconverted try.With the wind now at their backs Pershore upped their game and Kidder were unable to respond.They did not help their cause with a catalogue of unforced errors and when they did manage to get into Pershore’s 22 a missed tackle allowed their No 13 to run in a breakaway try to nudge them ahead 17-16.

A Pershore penalty quickly followed and their No 8 then powered over for a converted try to take them into a 27-16 lead,having notched up twenty unanswered points in a desperate twenty minutes for the home side whose bitterly disappointing second half was summed up when they tried to run the ball from under their own posts but only succeeded in giving away a penalty to gift Pershore another three points and a fourteen point cushion which KC’s never looked like threatening.