Match report courtesy of Martin Easton......

A strangely subdued KC’s were comprehensively beaten by a well organised Nuneaton side who,on the day,were better in all departments and thoroughly deserved their bonus point win.

Kidder put themselves under pressure from the very start when they dropped Eds’ kick off to concede a scrum and the home side went ahead in the third minute with a simple penalty by their scrumhalf after KC’s backs were caught offside in front of their posts.Kidder threatened briefly when centre Laurence Hughes charged down a clearance kick but Nuneaton were first to the loose ball and were able to clear their lines with a 22 drop out.
Eds then blatantly came in from the side at a ruck but got away with it and used the possession to good effect to score a try under the posts,duly converted,and only two minutes later a combination of good handling and questionable tackling enabled their left wing to go over in the corner for a 15-0 lead with only a quarter of an hour on the clock and KC’s were clearly in for a difficult afternoon.
Nuneaton looked likely to score from a free kick in Kidder’s 22 but a Nick Martin interception saved the day.KC’s were then disrupted when flyhalf George Morgan was forced off with a rib injury.Veteran scrumhalf Mark James came on with Chris Pinner moving to No 10 but Eds were still playing with the greater intensity and only a forward pass denied their No 11 a second try.A Kidder tackle which was deemed dangerous allowed the hosts’ No 9 to rack up another three points but with thirty five minutes played KC’s at last got on the board thanks to some quick thinking by Pinner.His tap penalty caught Nuneaton napping and he put flanker Rob Phillips in for a much needed try.Pinner’s conversion via an upright reduced the deficit to 18-7 but there was still time before the break for Eds’ left wing to cross again and extend their interval advantage to a comfortable sixteen points.
Five minutes into the second period KC’s hopes were raised when Tom Maher was driven over from a lineout but they were quickly dashed as Nuneaton replied with two tries of their own inside ten minutes,one converted,to put them out of sight at 35-12.Midway through the half Eds’ prop was yellow carded and Kidder took advantage when Alex Baldwin crashed over from another quickly taken penalty and Pinner added the extras.Nuneaton,however,had the last word when their solid scrum produced more good ball for their backs to run in a sixth try which was well converted from the right touchline to round off the scoring.A second yellow card for the home side came too late to help Kidder’s cause and their quest for a four try consolation bonus point ended when they knocked on right at the final whistle.
This was a bad day at the office for KC’s who will be looking to get back on track on Saturday when they entertain Stafford in the Intermediate Cup.