Match Report courtesy of Brian Pinner

KCs lost their first league match of the season, against Stafford, after seemingly being in total control after 45 minutes of the game. The home side got off to the ideal start when a penalty in the Stafford 22 was taken quickly, and after a couple of phases George Morgan broke through the defence to touch down out wide.

The game then became scrappy as both sides made unforced errors, and after KCs had lost the ball in contact twice in quick succession Stafford made good ground. They took a quick tap penalty of their own to catch the KCs’ defence napping and levelled the scores with a try after 17 minutes.

KCs stormed back from their kick off and regained possession. Rhys Pritchard made a clean break and drove into the Stafford 22 before offloading to Alex Baldwin who scored close to the posts, Chris Pinner adding the conversion.

Stafford then came back strongly, but the KCS defence held out, until possession at a line-out on half way was turned over, the ball was handled smoothly along the Stafford backs and they took advantage of missed tackles to score their second try, but again missed the conversion.

The seesaw nature of the game continued, with KCs now on the attack. Some good close inter-passing after a 5m scrum put Pritchard into space and he scored a well-deserved try, Pinner again converting to give KCs a 19 – 10 lead just before half time.

Good ground was made from the kick off, with Baldwin, Jack Tunstall and Josh Winfield linking to good effect. Winfield found space on the wing and chipped ahead before chasing down the Stafford full back to force a 5m scrum. However KCs lost possession and Stafford took advantage to move up the field and nearly score another try, just knocking the ball forward with the line in sight.

The second half started in a positive fashion for KCs, with fast recycling of possession from three phases of play. Pritchard made another incisive break and fed Morgan on the overlap for his second, and KCs’ bonus point, try. Pinner added the conversion to give the home side a comfortable 26 – 10 lead.

To Stafford’s credit they increased the tempo of their game, and KCs found themselves on the back foot. An error at an attacking line-out gave Stafford possession, which they retained through a number of phases until they won a penalty at the breakdown. They took a quick tap and Morgan was further penalised when he tackled a player before retreating 10 yards, an offence which the referee punished with a yellow card and 10 minutes in the sin bin.

Stafford sensed that they could turn the game around at this point, and a simple penalty kick from in front of the posts reduced the deficit. KCs conceded a string of penalties over the next 10 minutes until a second yellow card was shown, this time to Baldwin for not releasing the player in the tackle, leaving KCs with just 13 players on the field. The numerical advantage paid off for Stafford, despite some brave defence from KCs, and they scored their third try with 20 minutes remaining to make the score 26 – 18.

Stafford continued to drive forward, and the depleted KCs pack continued to concede penalties at the breakdown and scrum, increasing the pressure they were under. Morgan rejoined the game, but shortly afterwards a third yellow card was shown, this time to Chris Jones, for another breakdown offence, and KCs were again down to 13 men.

From a scrum in the 22 Stafford broke down the blind side to score their own bonus point try, which was converted to bring them within one point of KCs, with 10 minutes of normal time remaining. KCs managed to gain some possession at last, but persisted in running at the Stafford defence as opposed to kicking for territory, and more unforced errors resulted in turnover ball.

With time running out, and 7 minutes of injury time played Stafford had a line-out deep in their own half, but KCs gave away another penalty and conceded 30 yards. Stafford threw everything into a final attack, but KCs won possession from a ruck. A skirmish broke out after the whistle had blown for a KCs’ penalty, and the referee sent off Matt Rigsby for violent conduct and reversed the penalty to give Stafford a chance to steal victory with the last kick of the game, which was duly converted. Final score KCs 26 – Stafford 28. Stafford 5 points, KCs 2 points.

KCs were guilty of poor discipline throughout the second half, failing to come to terms with the referee’s interpretation of the laws at the breakdown area, and brought about their own downfall after being in a strong position. Full credit to Stafford, who retained possession well, kicked intelligently to stretch the KCs’ defence and maintained their own discipline.

KCs have another home league game next week (19th September) against local rivals Stourbridge, and a large Vice President’s Day crowd will be hoping for an improved performance.