Match report courtesy of Martin Easton.....
The scoreline suggests that this was something of a walk in the park for ten tries KC’s but it was in fact more of a curate’s egg performance as they also conceded four touchdowns against newly promoted Handsworth, who were good value for their try bonus point.
Kidder dominated the early exchanges and with six minutes played they created an overlap from scrum possession just inside their own half and right wing Josh Winfield crossed for the opening try which fullback Sam Taylor converted for a 7-0 lead.Almost straight from the re-start the visitors won a penalty in front of the posts and their flyhalf Tom Lea made no mistake.Five minutes later he put over a more difficult kick from just inside the ten metre line and the visitors were right back in the game at 7-6.KC’s soon responded when Taylor kicked a penalty from halfway to within eight metres of Handsworth’s line and from the lineout No 8 Alex Baldwin finished off a forwards drive with a try which Taylor converted from wide out.
Kidder were,however, conceding far too many penalties,including a yellow card for Baldwin,and as a result for the next quarter of an hour Handsworth enjoyed a lot more of the ball than the home side would have liked but were unable to make their numerical advantage pay with points on the board and they fell further behind when a strong run by centre George Morgan set up a ruck and the ball was moved left to winger Lawrence Hughes who celebrated his return to action after a long injury lay off with a try in the corner which extended the lead to 19-6.
Nonetheless,four minutes later KC’s lack of discipline came back to bite them when,following a high tackle,Handsworth used the penalty possession to set up a forwards drive under Kidder’s posts and the referee,spotting something that most of the crowd could not see,awarded a penalty try which was simply improved by Lea to cut the deficit to 19-13.
At least Kidder’s lineout,which had been a disaster at Camp Hill,was back on track and in the last six minutes of the half Alex Baldwin,fresh from the sin bin,and his twin brother,lock Chris,both profited from well organised drives with a try each which,together with Taylor’s conversion of the second score,gave KC’s a healthy interval lead of 31-13 despite a penalty count against them already well into double figures.
Seemingly not having learned from their first half misdemeanours,the hosts gave away yet another penalty in the very first minute of the second period to gift Handsworth field position and the Birmingham side went through some promising phases from lineout possession.When Kidder managed to turn the ball over at a ruck to relieve the pressure they then carelessly knocked on to give Handsworth a five metre scrum from which No 8 Ed Lea used the short side to go over.
Back came KC’s again with two tries on the ten and fifteen minute marks Firstly,after a clean catch by Chris Baldwin at a five metre lineout replacement Layton Wilkinson,also returning from injury,was driven over and Taylor converted well.Then,upping the tempo,Morgan and fellow centre Andy McLellan together with Winfield and the forwards instigated a fine passage of play which was rounded off with a terrific finish at the left corner by Morgan who simply showed more determination than the Handsworth defenders trying to bar his path to the line.
Now trailing 43-18,the visitors suffered another blow when Ed Lea was shown yellow and within a minute of his dismissal replacement flyhalf Mark Wratten,who had come on ten minutes before the break when skipper Rhys Pritchard was forced off with a cut over his eye,scored a try on debut picking up the pieces after Winfield had been stopped just short.Direct from the re-start a scything run by McLellan had Handsworth in full retreat and from a ruck under their posts Alex Baldwin floated a pass to his brother Chris for his second try.
Kidder were threatening to cut loose but to their credit Handsworth,still down to fourteen men,hit back as centre Will Theaker collected a clever kick to the right corner and touched down.Then,ten minutes later and restored to their full complement,Theaker finished off some good handling by the visitors to score the all important fourth try but the Baldwin twins had the last word as Alex put the ball on a plate for Hillandale Caravans man of the match Chris to go over for his hat-trick try.