Title & Tagline by Andy McLellan
Match Report Courtesy of Brian Pinner

Leek RFC 47pts Kidderminster Carolians RFC 10pts

KCs’ early season woes in the league continued, with a heavy defeat at Leek, who will surely be challenging for promotion at the end of the season after being relegated from a higher division in April.

Both sides contributed to an entertaining game, in perfect conditions, with forwards and backs combining to keep the ball alive. Leek were more clinical with their finishing however, and KCs struggled to break down the home side’s solid defence.

The first ten minutes of the game were played out in the centre of the pitch, with neither side able to dominate territory or possession. KCs put the first points on the board after 13 minutes, when Andy McLellan kicked a penalty from 35 metres out, following a Leek offence at a ruck.

Leek responded with a penalty of their own two minutes later, and then took control with a series of strong runs from their pack, and their pacey backs. The KCs’ defence held out until the 22nd minute, when a line out on the 22 metre line was secured by Leek and their backs were tackled in midfield. A switch to the blindside created space for their outside centre to dummy his way into space and cross for the first try, which was converted, for a 10 – 3 lead.

Leek continued to dominate possession for the remainder of the half, but KCs competed well at the breakdown to force handling errors and turnovers. Their cause was not helped when centre Ewan Thompson had to leave the field with an injury, and with no backs on the bench they had to shuffle the team around, with Jess Smith moving out from the second row.

The home side scored a further two tries and a penalty in the final 10 minutes of the half, as they benefitted from a number of infringements and penalties to keep KCs pinned in their own half. A catch and drive from a line-out produced a 15 metre rolling maul that could not be halted, and then, following a yellow card for Smith, they took advantage of their superior numbers to move the ball wide for another try, to give them a half time lead of 25 points to 3.

KCs started the second half in positive fashion, and reclaimed possession from their kick off to launch a number of attacks. The forwards drove through the centre of the Leek defence, with Layton Wilkinson making good ground, and when the ball was released to the backs a perfectly timed pass from Josh Woulfe found Arthur Morgan cutting back inside the defence, and he charged over under for the posts, giving a simple conversion opportunity to McLellan.

KCs continued to have the better of the play for ten minutes, with strong running and good support play, but Leek’s defence held firm. They absorbed the pressure and then countered, running from the try line to set up their own attack, and forced another penalty error from KCs in the front of the posts for a further three points.

Leek started to regain their superiority mid-way through the half, as KCs tired, and scored their bonus point try on 23 minutes after driving over from a 5 metre scrum. They attacked again straight from the kick off, and only last ditch defence denied them a further score. KCs were now looking to run the ball from their own half, and enjoyed some periods of good possession, with Chris Pinner, Scott Lovell and McLellan all making probing runs. However, they invariably ran out of support to leave the ball carrier isolated and the Leek defence forced penalties and turnovers to keep their line intact.
Indiscipline following another penalty award against KCs cost them 20 metres for questioning the referee, and from the resulting kick to touch and line-out Leek set up a number of forward drives that eventually resulted in a further try.

KCs refused to give up, and attacked strongly as the game neared the end, forcing a series of penalties close to the Leek line, but could not finish off any of the moves. They eventually lost possession and Leek attacked again from their own half, setting up a ruck on the KCs’ 22 metre line before a blind side break brought the final try of the match, which was converted to complete the 47 points to 10 scoreline.

KCs can take some heart from their performance, with improvements in the scrum and line-out over the previous week, and the backs handled well when they had the opportunity. They will hope to welcome a number of players back from injury for next week’s trip to Laurentians in the RFU Intermediate Cup, before returning to league action the following week.