Match Report courtesy of Bob Davies

This was a game that the team let slip through their fingers in the last 17 minutes allowing an 18 point lead to turn to a one point loss.

Old Laurentians had the better of the early exchanges; kicking a penalty after five minutes and their pressure kept KC in their own half for much of the next 20 minutes. Good defensive work by KC keeping the lively Old Laurentian backs out.

KC then worked their way into the game, starting to put several phases of good play together. After 35 minutes a break by Arthur Morgan was taken on by Freddie Morgan passing to Simon Clarke who was held up over the line. From the resulting scrum the ball moved on the short side for an easy run in by Andy McLellan. The lead was increased by the Freddie Morgan conversion 3-7.

KC pressure was telling and the hard work from the forwards was rewarded with a try. This followed an accurate long pass from Andy McLellan to Rich Sollum, who with another quick pass allowed Arthur Morgan the space to make a 40 metre run to score, Freddie Morgan adding the extras for a 3-14 score.

Both sides made some good moves after half time and with solid KC defence a certain Old Laurentian try was prevented by a great tackle from Chris May-Millar. KC then came back into the ascendency with another Arthur Morgan try, again kicked by Freddie Morgan whose kicking showed increasing confidence to take the score to 3-21. At this point KC were in control and playing well defensively with more good tackling particularly by Andy McLellan and Chris May-Millar.

A scrum re-organisation allowed Old Laurentians some respite and following a penalty their right winger scored in space. In the last quarter further Old Laurentian pressure was soaked up by resolute KC defence, albeit with two yellow cards for KC. Then with five minutes left Old Laurentians crossed the line and were held up, and from the following scrum scored a push over converted try. In the dying moments of the game Old Laurentians scored again to take the score to 20-21, making a pressure conversion to win with the last kick of the game.

Disappointing for the team; however, the lesson from this game is to reduce the penalty count and yellow cards received. They must recognise the potential harm from playing 25% of the game with only 14 men.

Bob Davies