Sat 26 Nov 2022, 14:30
Kenilworth earned 5 league points with a 47 points to 24 win away at Derby.
On a bright afternoon it was Kenilworth who started the better of the two sides, and with 15 minutes on the clock a solid set piece helped the Blue and Golds to an early 6 point lead, through the boot of fly-half Tyler Price.
The home response came almost straight from the restart as Derby took advantage of a coupe of missed tackles in midfield to score the game's first try of the day, the conversion was successful. Score 7-6.
On 25 minutes, Kenilworth crossed for a try of their own, having stolen possession at the lineout, hooker Ollie Stone scoring a trademark try from a dominant rolling maul. Score 7-11.
Five minutes later Kenilworth scored again; this time through the backs with wing David Opoku-Fordjour fielding a high ball in his own 22m and made good ground. He tipped the ball onto Sam Peppit who similarly passed on to Leo Jowett who dotted-down for a try. No conversion, score 7-16.
As earlier in the game, Derby were quick to respond and two minutes later scored under the posts with the conversion added, score 14-16.
With half-time looming, it was Kenilworth finishing the half strongly. Continued pressure in the home 22m saw Derby penalised and a yellow card issued, Derby were now down to 14 players. Kenilworth immediately made the most of their numerical took advantage, Peppitt scoring a try and Price adding the 2, score 14-23 at half time.
Kenilworth had the better of the opening minutes of the second half and were first to score a try after the break. A Derby clearance kick was gathered by Kershaw on the right wing and he found space in a disjointed Derby defence to dot down for a fine sole effort, conversion added by Price. Score 14-30.
The see-saw nature of the encounter continued with the hosts again responding quickly. Derby scoring when their 12 ran a good line and burst through some soft tackling to score. No conversion. Score 19-30.
A quarter of hour into the second half, Kenilworth added 3 points to their haul for the day. Pressure from Kenilworth saw the home side penalised, up stepped Price to knock over the kick from around 25 meters out. Score 19-33.
Ten minutes later the Kenilworth forwards were back at it, as was Stone, again on the end of the powerful driving maul. Tyler’s conversion took the score to 19-40.
Ten minutes later, Derby continued to prove themselves no pushover and following several phases, scored through the backs, eventually breaking through between the centres. No conversion, score 24-40.
With the game now nearing an end, Derby were on the attack and threw a loose pass in midfield, Kenilworth skipper Bobby Thompson intercepted the pass and outpaced the covering defence to run in from his own half. Price's successful conversion was the last action of the day. Final score 24-47. This was Derby’s first home defeat of the season and Kenilworth will look to build on this with a tough challenge away to Syston next Saturday.
Kenilworth Senior Men's 2XV took on Tenbury in the Counties 2 Midlands West (South) narrowly going down 8-13.
Written by Jai Purewal
