Match Report courtesy of Marin Easton....

KC’s 67 Harborne 3

After their exertions at Banbury last week KC’s would have liked to have rested a number of players against rock bottom Harborne but owing to illness and other factors the only notable absentees from the eighteen man squad were player coach Andy McLellan,second row Chris Baldwin and props Joe Nicklin and James Rigsby.They were,however, able to blood promising Colts fullback Sam Faulkner and Development XV flanker Alex Royall who had previously made a handful of substitute appearances,was in from the start.
Playing on a pretty firm surface for the first time since before Christmas,Kidder were quickly into their stride.Harborne’s kick off did not go ten metres and from the scrumback on halfway they set up a couple of rucks before moving the ball to outside centre George Morgan who sliced through the visitors and ran round under the posts for a try which skipper Chris Pinner converted for a 7-0 lead inside the first two minutes
Just three minutes later another enterprising passage of play,with Faulkner and hooker Joe Kingstone prominent,was finished off by inside centre Rich Sollom and although Harborne briefly steadied the ship George Morgan soon stretched over at the right corner for what appeared to be his second try only for play to be brought back for a foot in touch.Nonetheless,it was one way traffic and with fifteen minutes on the clock a lovely show and go by Faulkner down the left shredded Harborne’s cover for a classy debut try which put the hosts ahead 17-0.
After these reverses Harborne gradually began to grow into the game and some smart handling almost created an overlap on the left before the threat was snuffed out.They wasted a chance for field position when an attempted penalty to touch was kicked dead but Kidder’s forwards were looking lacklustre and lost the resultant scrum.They then conceded another penalty which was well landed by the visitors No 11 Aidan Watkins and was fair reward for their spirited response to the home side’s early dominance.
Four minutes later KC’s got back on track when flyhalf Freddie Morgan kicked a penalty to twelve metres and from the throw the forwards,playing a penalty advantage,drove over with Kingstone getting the touchdown to secure the four try bonus point six minutes before the break.
Kidder’s kick off to get the second half underway was knocked on by Harborne on their 22 and at the scrum No 8 Layton Wilkinson picked up and fed George Morgan who was looping round the set piece and strolled down the undefended short side for the simplest of tries under the posts,converted by Pinner.Sparkling footwork by Freddie Morgan then set up a ruck at which KC’s won a penalty and a buccaneering run by Wilkinson deep into the 22 forced another indiscretion.They opted for a scrum five metres out and although they lost the put in it mattered little as moments later Kingstone crossed at the left corner for his second try.Three minutes later Pinner broke through a weak tackle to score under the posts,adding the extras,and then from turnover ball just inside the visitors’ half the prolific George Morgan broke away for his hat-trick try which Pinner improved and the four try blitz in fifteen minutes had extended the lead to 48-3 and put the game to bed.
To their credit,Harborne continued to battle and from a lineout they drove over but were held up.From the scrum they almost got over another two or three times before eventually being repelled and when a strong run by KC’s left wing Laurence Hughes took play back into their 22 they ran the ball well out of defence from a quickly taken penalty but again there was no end product.Back on the front foot,a miscued KC’s kick fortuitously landed in the arms of replacement Josh Winfield on the right wing and when he was tackled the ball was worked inside to Steve Price who was brought down just short.Awarded a penalty,Kidder again opted for a scrum and although a knock on gave the feed back to Harborne an eight man shove disrupted the visitors and Wilkinson popped the ball up to Kingstone who placed it against the foot of a post for the Kiwi’s own hat-trick and Pinner’s conversion took KC’s past the fifty point mark with ten minutes left to play.
A surging burst by Price then spread panic in the Harborne ranks and Freddie Morgan danced through their bedraggled defence for Kidder’s tenth try of the afternoon but the visitors still refused to lie down and when KC’s made a mistake in midfield they hacked the ball on and looked likely to score until Faulkner raced back to rescue the situation.Price then found himself in the clear from broken play and set off on a rampaging run from inside his own half,contemptuously swatting off the last defender to score under the posts and Pinner’s conversion brought proceedings to a close.
Despite the scoreline and although they had far too much in their locker for the visitors KC’s were not the full monty and there were spells when Harborne looked anything but a side rooted to the foot of the table.They enjoyed a lot of possession and had some very lively runners but were let down by a porous defence which at times made things almost embarrassingly easy for Kidder and they will have to be at their best next week when they travel to Wolverhampton who will be licking their wounds after suffering a surprise defeat at Stafford.