Match report courtesy of Martin Easton...

Resuming their Mids 2 West (S) campaign after the Christmas break,KC’s deservedly avenged their heavy September defeat at Nuneaton although the visitors fully played their part in an exciting encounter which produced nine tries.The home side flew out of the blocks with three tries in eighteen minutes but it was actually Ed’s who threatened first when virtually straight from the kick off they punched a big hole through Kidder’s midfield,only to concede a penalty which snuffed out the danger.KC’s failed to find touch but when Nuneaton tried to move the ball infield the hosts were able to hack it up the pitch and a sliced attempted clearance gave right wing Nick Martin the chance to pounce for the opening try.Just two minutes later scrumhalf Chris Pinner ran in unopposed after some lovely KC’s play along the left wing but the score was rightly ruled out for a foot in touch.Not to be denied, Kidder stole the lineout and No 10 George Morgan ghosted through the visitors’ defence to set up a fine phase which was finished off by lock Alex Baldwin to double the lead to 10-0.The halfback pairing of Pinner and Morgan,Hillandale Caravans man of the match,were now beginning to pull the strings for a KC’s side playing with impressive fluency and it was one way traffic.In the space of ten minutes they got over the whitewash on no less than three occasions but each time were held up by stoic last ditch Nuneaton defending which,however,eventually cracked as Baldwin crashed over for his second try,converted by Pinner to establish a 17-0 advantage.Nuneaton at last got back into the game when they broke through KC’s midfield for a second time and a potential try scoring pass was knocked on by Kidder to concede a penalty which Ed’s scrumhalf Tom Short confidently converted to put them on the board.The visitors then launched another attack but a high crossfield kick was well taken by KC’s left wing Laurence Hughes and he offloaded to fullback Jordan Hatch who outflanked Ed’s chasers before kicking long to give the home side good field position.Forced to concede a close range lineout,Nuneaton were unable to repel KC’s catch and drive which resulted in the bonus point try for flanker Mike Protheroe,his first in senior rugby,and a healthy 22-3 lead on the half hour mark.Having played at such a high tempo from the start,Kidder’s intensity inevitably began to drop off with the visitors coming back into the match for the last ten minutes and only some excellent covering work by centre Andy McLellan denied them a try when he found himself the last line of defence.Encouraged by their late first half improvement,Nuneaton began the second period brightly and with only three minutes played they moved the ball along their backs from a scrum deep in their own half to draw in Kidder’s wide defence before releasing their No 11 Stephen List who had a clear run to the line for a try converted by Short to reduce the arrears to 22-10.Gaining in confidence,Ed’s continued to threaten and with ten minutes played their outside half Craig Quick lived up to his name as he breached KC’s defence with a break from halfway.He appeared to lose the ball forward in the act of grounding it but the try was awarded and Short added the extras to put the outcome back in the balance at 22-17.KC’s responded right from the restart with a couple of quick tap penalties helping them to camp on Nuneaton’s line.They knocked on under the posts when looking certain to score but won possession from Ed’s five metre scrum and after going first one way and then the other Pinner created room to dodge over for a vital try which he improved himself to give KC’s some breathing space at 29-17.Play then became very open with Nuneaton looking dangerous from loose ball in midfield and with twenty five minutes still remaining the result was far from certain.However,after putting in some big tackles and soaking up Nuneaton pressure a mazy run by Pinner from a ruck thirty metres from KC’s line took them deep into the visitors’ 22 and from then on Kidder were largely able to keep Ed’s penned back where they wanted them and prop Matt Rigsby sealed an impressive win with a try which took the score to 34-17. Another eye catching solo try at the death by Nuneaton’s No 10,again converted,ended the scoring and the visitors went away pointless whilst the five earned by Kidder moved them up two places in the table.Despite an inconsistent start to the season KC’s are now the league’s leading point scorers with358,have the most bonus points (10) and are only two points off third spot. Nuneaton, incidentally,still have conceded the least points and so to score six tries against them was no mean feat.Next fixture – Old Coventrians (A) – Saturday 11th January.