Kenilworth RFC

Kenilworth men’s team were involved in another hum dinger of a match between two contrasting teams. Edwardians were efficient in the mainly ‘up the jumper’ style of play with a very dominant scrum, and Kenilworth were attempting to run them around as much as possible. The match went down to the wire and was ably controlled by Warwickshire Society referee Phil Monaghan in front of a large enthusiastic crowd.

The match opened with both teams attempting to get on the front foot, gain territory, making elementary mistakes and giving away penalties. Kenilworth deservedly opened the scoring on 16 minutes with a well struck penalty 35 metres out, in front of the posts by Mark O’Connor after Edwardians were offside.

Edwardians were always in the mix and the match went into a period of time where both teams had chances but couldn’t quite finish them off. The stalemate was broken in the 25th minute with a lovely backs move by Kenilworth from first phase ball, 40 metres out, with slick handling and running lines, finished by left winger Tommy Hunter. The try was unconverted from wide out, and it made the score 8-0. This score was quickly followed by a penalty for holding on against Edwardians, the kick at goal by Mark O’Connor was about 35mtres out and he slotted it between the posts to put the score at 11-0

Both sides were attempting to dominate the gain line and achieve ascendency at the break down. At times it was very physical and at times it became messy with tacklers not rolling away and not releasing the ball carrier when they hit the ground. Consequently, this led to penalties on both sides. On 32 mins Edwardians inevitably came back at Kenilworth with direct running from both their forwards and backs. They finally got into Kenilworth’s red zone, and they made the most of the opportunity through effective continuity and scoring under the posts. Their inside centre and captain George Rees was the man who dotted down, running against the defensive grain, this score was converted by fly half Brandon Lea. 11-7.

Kenilworth were still playing effective open rugby at this point, but could not find quite find the final pass to finish moves with a flourish. On 39 minutes the Edwardians winger, Ben Cooper was shown a yellow card for cynical play by stopping a quick Kenilworth tap penalty. On 40 minutes just before the half end, Edwardians followed up with another well taken try. They secured good line out ball 10 metres out and drove the maul to the Kenilworth line with hooker Jack Lea going over the line, this was converted by fly half Brandon Lea to make the half time score 11-14.

In the second half Kenilworth had the slight prevailing wind at their backs and they needed to use it by kicking with potency to pin Edwardians back, they did this at times with great effect, through scrum half Robbie Holden, fly half Finn Barnacle and full back Mark O’Connor. Ten minutes into the second half, gained territory from a penalty kick to touch, the ensuing lineout and several rucks going forward, gave fly half Finn Barnacle a gap on the short side in the Edwardians 22 metre area and he dived over the try line to score. This was converted by Mark O’Connor to make the score 18-14.

In the next 15 minutes the game went into a phase of stalemate where both teams tried to stamp their authority and both teams attempted to get into scoring positions. The Kenilworth lineout functioned really well whilst the Edwardians scrum was dominant, in the loose both teams wanted ascendency to get front foot ball. Edwardians scored next from a kick to space towards the Kenilworth left wing area, where a fortuitous bounce from the rugby ball saw it end up in the hands of the Edwardians right winger, Cal Wright who thought it was an early Christmas present, and he duly scored between the up rights. This was converted by Brandon Lea to give the Edwardians team the lead 18-21 with 10 minutes to go.

Kenilworth replied to this score with fortitude and much better game management, while Edwardians gave away needless penalties to help the Kenilworth cause. From a penalty kick to the corner by Mark O’Connor, the ensuing 5 metre lineout did the job and gave Kenilworth the chance of a driving maul to the line, Bobby Thompson scored from the back of the drive. This was wide out and the conversion was missed to give Kenilworth a slender lead.

Edwardians to their credit came straight back at Kenilworth, giving the ball more air and linking well, they had chances to kick penalties from the left of the Kenilworth posts, but chose instead to tap them and the chances went begging. Towards the end of the game from 40 metres out, another kickable penalty was available, but strangely they went for the kick to the corner hoping they could get a win and a 4 try bonus point. Kenilworth, in those last 6 minutes dug really deep with a well-connected, heroic and aggressive defence, which kept the opposition out. The defining moment coming from a Tommy Hunter tackle and a turn over from skipper Ted Bromwich, to give Mark O’Connor the chance to kick the ball off the pitch. It was squeaky bum time for all the spectators, and a thrilling encounter ended with a narrow win for Kenilworth.

Man of the match for Kenilworth was deservedly Robbie Holden. The team were encouraged and spurred on by a really supportive and appreciative crowd and this was a valuable 4 points in the league, moving Kenilworth up to 8th place.

Next Saturday Kenilworth men play a match versus Moseley Oak away, who are currently top of the league, with a 2.15pm kick off. To the people of Kenilworth and wider places, who are supporting this team, your endless and vociferous support is always very much appreciated.