Match Report courtesy of Kevin Woodham
Photography courtesy of Paul Hickey
https://www.paulhickeyphotography.co.uk/Sports/Galleries/Rugby-Galleries/Kidderminster-Carolians-vs-Stoke-Rfc-070919/

Kidderminster Carolians entertained Stoke in the first fixture of the season and from the kick-off took an early lead, Stoke made a handling error in their own 22 which was quickly gathered by Kidderminster and Alex Royal scored the try, the conversion failed. Within 2 minutes Stoke struck back, KC’s lost a line out on their own throw in this led to a series of powerful drives by the Stoke forwards to create a try which was converted to lead 5-7. With 8 minutes of the game gone the home side regained the lead when a powerful run from Ryan Tiene from some forty yards out produced a try which was converted by Rhys Pritchard, Kidderminster now led by 12-7. Half way through the first half KC’s took a quick penalty, poor handling allowed the ball to go loose and be regained by Stoke who put a speculative kick into the Kidderminster half, the kick was not gathered and some weak tackling allowed Stoke to score a converted try to lead by 12-14. The Stoke pack were becoming more dominant and KC’s were having some difficulty in obtaining much ball, the pressure finally told when a break through the midfield produced a converted try and Stoke led by 12-21. On the stroke of half time Kidderminster failed to clear their lines properly and this led to a Stoke scrum, a powerful surge from their forwards, then some good offloading yielding a try in the corner which was excellently converted. The half time score read 12-26.

Kidderminster started the second half well and reduced the deficit when a fluent handling movement saw Will Fallows held up in the corner, the ball was re-cycled quickly allowing Andy McLellan to crash over from short range and Rhys Pritchard to add the conversion making the score 19-26. Within two minutes Stoke increased their lead, a lost line out followed by another powerful run and some weak first time tackling giving them a lead of 19-33. This score seemed to galvanise the Stoke team, and Kidderminster were unable to cope with the increased pressure applied by their opponents who were now stronger, fitter and more organised and scored another 4 tries, 3 of which were converted. The final score was 19-59.

A disappointing start to the season but with the determination of the coaching staff, the commitment of the playing squad and the patience of the supporters the demands of playing in a higher league can be managed successfully.