KC 49 – Old Coventrians 29
KC started very positively, spending 20 minutes in the opposition half. Unfortunately, although being awarded a succession of penalties for repeated Coventrians offside KC were only able to show three points from a single penalty kick by Tom Dalton. Notable at this time was George Lloyd Jones whose penetrating run took him past six or seven OC defenders, however last-ditch OC defence eventually prevented any score. KC then had a ten minute period when they made mistake after mistake and against the run of play OC were able to score two converted tries. KC came back when Dalton gathered the ball in the KC half, made a lovely individual run into the OC half and passed to the supporting Ryan Tiene for him to score. Minutes later Pinner made ground up to the OC 22 and passed to Tiene for him to score his second try.
KC forwards were working well together gaining good field position, notable were the performances of Alfie Smith, Lee Wilkes and man of the match Harvey Kelsall back from injury. With effective work KC won the ball in midfield and chasing a chip ahead Ted Morgan dribbled the ball, then with a lucky bounce was able to pick the ball up on the run to score, Tom Dalton converting. A penalty kick by Jack O’Hagan took the half time score to 14 – 25 in KC’s favour.
The second half started with KC forwards making ground; they secured the bonus point when the ball was passed out to Tom Dalton for him to cut through scoring a try which he also converted. KC worked their way into the OC 22 area and then a catalogue of errors allowed OC to go the length of the field to score. OC followed this up with a well worked try which started with a break down the right wing and after forward moves they eventually scored on the left wing.
KC forward pressure continued, hooker Lee Wilkes and jumper Tom Kerrigan combining well in the line-out to secure good possession. Simon Clarke and Martin Mcilroy coming on as replacements were prominent in forwards play. More pressure from the KC forwards took them into the OC 22 and good possession gave Tom Dalton a second try which he converted. Chris Pinner capped his good game with a break into the OC 22 and unselfishly passing close to the line for Ted Morgan to score. Another error in KC loose play allowed OC to score an unconverted try
The final KC score came from a forward drive which was taken over the line by hooker Lee Wilkes for his second try of the season.
While the final score of 29 – 49 to KC looks impressive, KCs sloppy play, gifting the opposition points, must be worked on.
Bob Davies