Match report courtesy of Bob Davies
Photography courtesy of Paul Hickey (www.paulhickeyphotography.co.uk/Sports/Galleries/Rugby-Galleries)

KC defence was tested in the early exchanges, as Barker Butts piled on pressure and held territorial advantage for the first ten minutes. KC had a let off when the opposition missed a very kickable penalty from in front of the posts. Almost the first KC move into the Barker Butts half resulted in a penalty. From a quick tap, inter-passing by the forwards fed Russ Gauden to score a try with Freddie Morgan converting.

The next ten minutes had possession changing hands several times with neither side able to take any advantage, Barker Butts pressure eventually told when they converted a penalty from in front of the posts to open their scoring. Barker Butts tried a clearance kick from their 22, it did not make touch and the KC backs combined for Freddie Morgan to release his brother Arthur to make an easy score. Freddie Morgan then kicked the penalty.

Just before the end of the first half things turned ugly as a Barkers Butts player took exception to a tackle from fullback Andy McLellan and lashed out with an unprovoked punch which led to a fracas on the KC's 22. The referee brandished red cards for each side, the Barker Butts hooker for punching and the KC player for retaliation.

The second half started with KC having more control in the scrum. A positive drive by Alex Baldwin fed number 8 Jess Smith to score from 30 metres, the conversion was unsuccessful .Barker Butts then came back with a period of sustained pressure and with good support and inter-passing scored a converted try to bring themselves to 19-10

KC increased their lead through another dominant drive allowing the powerful Jess Smith, with a 40 metre sprint, to score another fine individual try which secured the bonus point. It looked as if the opposition were not keen to tackle Jess. The conversion failed the score remaining at 24-10. KC were now in control and sealed this win with a further try from a good handling move. The ball was taken on by Arthur Morgan who, when tackled, kept the ball alive by passing to Ryan Tiene for him to score. The conversion by Freddie Morgan was successful making the final score 31-10.

With the game now out of reach Barkers Butts number 7 showed the ugly side of their game once more with a blatant punch to the face of Chris Pinner in front of the referee. To everyone's astonishment the referee was unsure if it was a closed or open hand and only produced a yellow card, thus reducing the opposition to 13 men for the final 6 minutes of play. Pinner needed to leave the field with a broken nose and left the club questioning if this player should be cited for this action as this was the same player involved in an incident earlier in the year that left another KC's player with a significant injury.

Another good win by KC who were on the receiving end of some questionable tactics by the opposition which was further compounded after the game when the whole Barkers Butts team left without showering, changing or eating the food the club had provided for them!!