A woeful first half display by a severely depleted KC’s side saw them slump to a depressing home defeat at the hands of second placed Spartans.Already missing a host of players,including skipper Rob Delahay,Kidder were forced to play two forwards in the threequarters and their afternoon got off to the worst possible start when No 6 Alex Baldwin had to leave the field after only three minutes with a nasty injury.

The visitors were on top from the kick off,winning a number of early penalties,and after six minutes their flyhalf slotted over a three pointer from the 22 metre line.From the restart KC’s gained possession but an error in the threes gifted the ball back to Spartans who released their fullback down the right touchline and his pace was too much for the hosts to handle.His try took the lead to 8-0 but on the quarter of an hour mark a quickly taken penalty by scrumhalf Chris Pinner gave left wing Nick Martin a chance to go for the line.He was tackled just short and at the ruck prop Joe Nicklin was also stopped but replacement forward Paul Stride was able to pick up the ball and plunge over.Flyhalf George Morgan’s conversion reduced the arrears to a single point at 8-7 but this was as good as it got for KC’s.They knocked on the restart and just three minutes later Spartans went right from a 22 metre scrum before switching the ball left to their winger who went over for a converted try.Almost immediately they threatened again down the right touchline,only to be denied by a fine tackle by fullback Harry MacBeth who injured himself in the process.The reprieve was,however,shortlived as only two minutes later a neat inside pass in midfield created an opening for Spartans to canter under the posts for another converted try which took the score to 22-7.
Living off scraps,KC’s wasted most of the little possession they did have with poor passing compounded by handling errors and despite having a brisk wind at their backs they did not employ any sort of kicking game to attempt to establish field position.Nonetheless,they did manage a retaliatory try when a good forwards drive enabled Morgan to touch down and reduce the deficit to 22-12 but Kidder could not contain Spartans’ dangerous backs and they cut through with embarrassing ease for their fourth try,again converted,and the halftime whistle could not come quickly enough for a chastened KC’s side who, trailing 29-12,badly needed to regroup.
At the break Kidder reshuffled with Morgan moving to fullback for the unfortunate MacBeth,Pinner filling in at No 10 and Alex Thompson coming on to take over at scrumhalf and things did improve.Thirteen minutes into the second period KC’s worked a move at the front of a lineout before shifting the ball infield and when centre Rob Phillips was held up right on the line second row Jack Tunstall was up in support to take the offload and go over for a try which Morgan improved to close the gap to 29-19.
Galvanised by veteran No 8 Layton Wilkinson,the home side were now playing much better and when Spartans missed a kickable penalty with over a quarter of an hour still to play there was a realistic possibility that KC’s could at least rescue two losing bonus points with a fourth try.However,although they had stemmed the tide,their execution was still not precise enough and with time running out Spartans put the game to bed when they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts and made no mistake.
Unfortunately,the spirited performance put up by KC’s in the second half,which they “won” 7-3, could not repair the damage suffered in the first forty minutes and they will be looking for a big improvement when they go to Banbury next Saturday.