Match report courtesy of Martin Easton

KC’s understandably opted to play a tight game after having to make wholesale late changes to their backs division but their forwards duly delivered as they exerted a stranglehold on the match from virtually first whistle to last to notch up a five point win which saw the Marlpool Lane men move up to fourth place in Mids 2 West (South).
Kidder showed their intent from the very start when they collected Upton’s kick off and drove the home side back to their own ten metre line.They were looking the far more likely side in the opening stages but unforced errors let them down and it was almost twenty minutes before scrumhalf Chris Pinner opened their account with a straightforward penalty.

Five minutes later Upton got themselves right back into the match when their right wing fielded a clearance kick and passed inside to his No 6 who set off on an arcing run from almost halfway and broke through some weak tackles before offloading a scoring pass to his support runner.The try was well converted to put the hosts ahead 7-3,completely against the run of play.

KC’s went straight back on the attack and a quickly taken tap penalty caught Upton napping but the final pass was wayward and they escaped,although not for long as a solid five metre scrum created space for Pinner to dart over by the side of the posts for a try which he converted himself to give the visitors a 10-7 lead.On the cusp of halftime KC’s won a penalty and when the ref confirmed it would be the last play they sensibly opted for a scrum eight metres out and from the resulting ruck right on the tryline No 8 Layton Wilkinson picked up and twisted round to ground the ball for a 15-7 interval advantage.

Early in the second period a good take at the back of a lineout and a probing kick by flyhalf Andy McLellan put KC’s on the front foot yet again and the home side were under constant pressure for the next ten minutes.Sub Rich Sollum almost got over in the right corner before Upton eventually cracked when Wilkinson went over for a pushover try from a five metre scrum.Pinner’s conversion gave the 22-7 scoreline a more realistic look but they did not deal with the restart and with rare field position Upton almost scored in the right corner themselves.

However,they were soon back in their own 22 as KC’s continued to dominate territory,limiting the hosts to a couple of breakaways which were both halted by some fine covering by Pinner,but Upton did get some reward when their left wing squeezed over at the corner for a try,excellently converted to reduce KC’s cushion to 22-14.

Kidder responded by camping on Upton’s line for the last ten minutes in search of a bonus point try and their forwards were twice held up over the whitewash before the home side,who had been given several “final” warnings for persistent infringing, were at last yellow carded and made to pay as KC’s changed tactics and moved the ball from yet another close range ruck.Makeshift centre Tom Maher was hauled down just short but left wing Arthur Chiverton was on hand to cross the line and secure the valuable extra point,McLellan adding the extras with the last kick of the game.