Before the match KC's held a minutes silence for one of the clubs most prominent and well respected members, Graham Maiden who sadly passed away earlier in the week. Graham was a true club man in every sense of the word and we are sure he will have been very proud of the clubs efforts this season.

This twelve try demolition of relegated Old Covs in the last round of league games in Mids 2 West (S ) saw Kidderminster Carolians not only climb above Laurentians to clinch a promotion play off showdown against Tamworth, who secured second spot in the North section, but also attain their highest ever finishing position since the introduction of the current National league system in 1987.

KC’s came flying out of the blocks and when Coventrians failed to deal with their kick off the home side ruthlessly made them pay with a Freddie Morgan try in the very first minute which the flyhalf converted himself and with still less than four minutes on the clock they doubled their advantage to 14-0 when a strong run by skipper Mike Protheroe triggered an attack from deep which was finished off by centre Chris May Miller and Morgan again added the extras.

With eight minutes played Covs kicked a penalty to fifteen metres to offer their first threat of the afternoon and moved the lineout ball wide left to set up a ruck on the line from which they burrowed over for an unconverted try but that was as good as it got for the visitors.Midway through the half,following a fracas which resulted in the referee speaking to both captains,Covs promptly conceded a penalty for an off the ball offence and retribution was swift as Morgan found an excellent touch at the corner and unstoppable No 8 Jess Smith ploughed over to increase the lead to 19-5. Covs re-start did not go ten metres and from the resulting scrum on halfway May Miller cut through their defence to send in right wing Ryan Tiene for the all important bonus point try,improved by Morgan,and the floodgates were now opening.As he did almost the whole game,fullback Andy McLellan took responsibility for dealing with the re-start and his pass to Rhys Pritchard saw the centre utilise both strength and pace to score from distance for a fifth try,again converted by Morgan.

A bullocking run by Smith,once more direct from the re-start,caused further mayhem in the visitors’ ranks until a penalty kicked to touch brought them some brief respite.The lineout was overthrown and Kidder knocked on in midfield but when Covs kicked away their scrum possession the ball was safely taken by McLellan and his deft offload to Arthur Morgan saw the left wing cut infield and run all the way to the posts for another long distance try,converted by his brother to stretch the advantage to 40-5 with a quarter of an hour of the half still remaining.

There was then a ten minute lull but in the five minutes before the break KC’s ran in two more tries.Firstly,Tiene crossed for his second try after sterling work by scrumhalf Chris Pinner and then at a lineout midway between halfway and Covs’ 22 a clean Protheroe catch provided ball for May Miller to run in his own second and bring up the fifty points, Unsurprisingly, with the game long since done and dusted KC’s intensity dropped off somewhat for the first twenty minutes of the second period and Covs managed to put together a few phases without ever posing any real danger and they did themselves no favours when their prop got himself sent off for throwing a punch and directing abusive language at the referee.

Tempers were fraying and the match was becoming fragmented until Kidder won a scrum against the head in their own half and Pinner scampered away before the ball was put through the hands to culminate in a try under the posts for loosehead Matt Rigsby,duly converted.
The game continued to splutter rather than flow but KC’s finished with something of a flourish,adding three further tries in the final ten minutes.From scrum possession against the head Freddie Morgan kicked into the in goal area and in the race for the ball May Miller got the final touch to complete his hat-trick.Barely a minute later another great take and run by McLellan was continued by prop Russ Gauden for Pinner to finish off under the posts and the scrumhalf converted his own score.

Old Covs did almost double their try tally with a slick move at the front of a close range lineout but their flanker was held up and good work by KC’s at the resulting scrum forced the visitors back to the 22 from where Pinner fed Tiene who burst through some despairing tackles before putting away fellow wing Arthur Morgan to end the scoring and complete a comprehensive tenth home win out of eleven.

The promotion play off game against Tamworth will be played at Marlpool Lane on Saturday 27th April. KO – to be confirmed.