A resilient performance by KC’s at lowly Shrewsbury was laced with dashes of enterprise which saw them run in four tries and the bonus point win lifted them three places to fifth spot in Mids 2 West (N).
Kidder got off to the worst possible start,conceding within the first thirty seconds without laying a hand on the ball.Their kick off was fielded by Shrews and two missed tackles allowed their flanker to run deep into the visitors’ half before passing outside to his winger who switched the ball back infield to his tighthead prop and his try was converted by the fullback.
KC’s gradually recovered from this early shock and began to settle down with openside Mike Protheroe securing some useful lineout possession and with thirteen minutes played a well struck penalty by Rhys Pritchard from midway between halfway and the ten metre line opened their account.Three minutes later an astute crossfield kick by flyhalf Andy McLellan was well gathered by left wing Jake Shellis inside his own half and he pinned back his ears before rounding the fullback for an excellent finish and an 8-7 lead.

Shrewsbury responded as their scrumhalf followed up his own kick ahead to the right corner and new fullback Andy Holloway,making his first start for the club,had to be alert to snuff out the danger at the expense of a close range lineout for the home side.Then,playing a penalty advantage,the hosts had a number of thrusts at the line before releasing the ball left to their winger who scored wide out to put them back ahead,12-8.
With the majority of decisions going against them,Kidder presented Shrews with a very kickable penalty opportunity but the chance was unexpectedly not taken and after a good handling move the visitors almost increased their advantage,only for right wing Rhys Kay to be held up at the corner.However,from the resulting five metre scrum a nicely delayed pass by McLellan to Josh Woulfe,running a lovely line,sent the inside centre under the posts and Pritchard added the simple conversion.A long kick by Holloway then set up good field position and after a series of phases KC’s won a rare penalty which Pritchard knocked over from thirty metres with the last kick of the half to give them an 18-12 interval lead.
The start of the second period also began badly for Kidder as they gave away a penalty inside the first minute,compounding the offence with some back chat which cost them a further ten metres,and they were punished by Shrews’ No 15 to reduce the arrears to just three points.
Five minutes later a terrific run out of defence by Holloway,sidestepping player after player,initiated a phase which nearly culminated in a try for McLellan and KC’s then missed a far from easy penalty chance.Nevertheless,with quarter of an hour played they did extend their advantage when skipper Chris Pinner,taking the ball at pace,made a long run for the line before being tackled just short and Pritchard was up in support to finish things off.
Trailing by eight points,Shrewsbury now needed two scores to win and threw the kitchen sink at Kidder who were increasingly in retreat at the scrums and not helping themselves by giving away needless penalties and also kicking away possession.The momentum was all with the home side but KC’s resolute defence,aided by some poor Shrewsbury decision making and handling errors,held firm.
An ever more desperate home side ,presumably hoping to at least secure a losing bonus point,went for goal when awarded a penalty on the ten metre line but the kick was wide and after being under the cosh and unable to get out of their own half for fully twenty minutes Kidder suddenly exploded into a long range counter triggered by replacement Freddie Morgan,on at flyhalf with McLellan having moved into the centre.A wave of flowing attacks almost ended with a try at the right corner and at the lineout Shrewsbury were forced back over their own line to concede a five metre scrum which had to be reset but at the second time of asking No 8 Layton Wilkinson picked up and twisted over to seal the win.
Next week KC’s will be looking to make it three wins on the trot when they entertain Stafford – KO 2.15 pm.