Travelling to third placed Old Salteians,who had only lost one league match to date,KC’s knew they would be in for a tough afternoon and their task was made even harder by the absence of five established first team forwards.
After just four minutes the home side were the first to threaten when,following a scrum on their own ten metre line,they made a half break in centre field before moving the ball left to their No 11 who kicked on but was just foiled by the last ditch cover.
Kidder responded with a passage of sweeping handling moves which took them from one end of the field to the other and culminated in a penalty,kicked to touch for a five metre lineout.At the throw they were accidentally offside but disrupted Salts’ scrum to force a knock on,only to lose their own put in and enable the hosts to clear their lines.
A strong wind on the fringe of storm Desmond blowing more or less straight across the pitch encouraged both sides to frequently get the ball airborne but a Kidder kick was well fielded and run back at them by Salts whose scrumhalf made good ground up the left touchline before switching the ball inside to his No 21 who had an easy run in to open the scoring.Salts flyhalf’s conversion attempt from wide out into the teeth of the elements was almost perfectly judged but just grazed the far upright.
A long kick by fullback Andy McLellan was then touched by a Salts hand on its way out of play to give KC’s a throw on the hosts 22 and although they knocked on at the lineout to concede a scrum they won turnover ball in front of the posts twenty metres out and were awarded a penalty which skipper Chris Pinner converted to put them on the board.
KC’s ran the re-start out of defence but,crucially,lost the ball to give away possession and when a Salts penalty advantage came to nothing their No 10 kicked the three points to put them 8-3 ahead with twenty minutes played.Five minutes later Kidder dropped a pass thirty metres from their line and the hosts left wing gratefully accepted the present to canter over unopposed.The unforced errors were hurting the visitors and Salts flyhalf punished them further with another good kick in the difficult conditions to add the extras.
An intercepted pass in midfield then put KC’s into more trouble but a knock on relieved the pressure and from the scrum they kept the ball in hand well with McLellan running a great line to get behind Salts first up defence and centre George Morgan then worked a scissors move with his brother Freddie to put fellow sibling Arthur into space and the right wing used his pace to get over at the corner and reduce the arrears to 15-8.
In the last ten minutes Salts had a penalty opportunity from thirty metres but KC’s were let off the hook when the decision was reversed for some backchat and at the last play of the half the hosts hooker was yellow carded for throwing a punch.
The second half began with some aerial ping pong but after ten minutes a terrific McLellan kick from hand,the best so far from many attempts by both sides,took play into the hosts 22.They cleared the initial danger but Kidder had field position and put the ball through the hands with some fine passages of play.From a five metre lineout they drove infield but good Salts defence prevented them from getting the ball to ground and from the resultant scrum the home side were again able to clear.Kidder were however beginning to gain the upper hand and from ruck ball under the posts after another five metre lineout scrumhalf Pinner feinted to go wide but instead slipped a short pass inside to No 8 Layton Wilkinson who powered over and Pinner converted to level the scores midway through the half.
At this stage Kidder looked as though they could go on and win the game but with quarter of an hour left to play Salts’ No 21 snatched up a loose ball on halfway to open up the visitors defence before finding his left wing who was brought down just short but was able to offload to his openside who crossed for the try and the conversion put the home side back in front 22-15.Straight from the re-start KC’s flanker Mike Protheroe was yellow carded for taking a player out in the air and Kidder came under immediate pressure.They lost a five metre defensive lineout and from the resulting ruck Salts spread the ball along along the backs to their No 11 who went over for his second try,once again superbly converted by the No 10.
The wheels then fell off for Kidder with second row Simon Clarke and Pinner both being shown yellow cards in the closing moments and they were denied the losing bonus point which their overall performance probably merited.
With twenty minutes left KC’s had been right in this match but Salts finished strongly and deserved their bonus point win which elevated them to second spot in Mids 2 West (N) and Kidder face another stiff challenge next week when they entertain Yardleians who are just one place and two points behind them.