Match Report

The biggest problem both teams faced from Saturdays friendly was from the tricky weather conditions.  A freezing cold day was not helped by blustery winds which made lineouts throughout the match a real challenge.

Kingswood were against the wind in the first half and this meant that kicking was not an option, as a result, Kingswood found themselves under a lot of pressure for most of the half.  The opening 10 minutes were controlled by Aretians who had a number of first team players drafted in for the match.  The pressure was pretty much constant from Aretians, who used the wind to their advantage.  Kingswood's defence stayed firm, and John Bogan put in an excellent double tackle to deny Aretians a possible try scoring opportunity.

On 17 minutes Kingswood had their best opportunity when they had a lineout in Aretians half, the lineout was won and Kingswood formed a rolling maul which carried them deeper into Aretians half.  Kingswood drove up the pitch before Neil Ward spun off the back of the maul and popped a beautiful one handed pass out to Mike Oakley, this lead to a flowing passing move but unfortunately it could not be finished off.

With the wind so strong, Kingswood were forced to gain yards with some excellent rolling mauls which did lead to some good spells of pressure. 

Aretians were offering a style of play that Kingswood had not seen for some weeks.  They were passing well and were running at Kingswood and hitting tackles hard.  This paid off for Aretians when on the stroke of half time, they put together a good flowing move and formed a ruck near the Kingswood try line, the ball was passed out for a crash ball and an attempted tackle was missed by the Kingswood defence and Aretians went over to score the games first try and to take the lead.  The resulting conversion was good and Aretians went in at half time 0-7 up.

Half Time: Kingswood 0 - 7 Aretians B

Kingswood had the wind with them in the 2nd half and this meant that they could play a more controlled kicking game to put pressure on Aretians.  Within 3 minutes of the 2nd half starting, Kingswood were awarded a scrum 7 metres out.  The ball was played out of the scrum and eventually a ruck was formed, Mike Oakley received the crash ball and popped it out to Ryan Bernard who ran over to score Kingswood's first try of the match.  Dean Stephens for the 2nd week running, converted from a seemingly impossible distance and angle to bring the scores level at 7-7.

Within 5 minutes of drawing level, Kingswood conceded a penalty that Aretians converted to hand them back the lead, but it was clear from the start that Kingswood were going to dominate the 2nd half.  There was a man of the match performance from Ryan Bernard who caused Aretians no end of problem on the wing with his blistering pace and power.

For the 3rd week in a row, the opposition had a player sin-binned, this time Aretians No. 4 was penalised for repeatedly putting his hands in the ruck when twice told not too.  Kingswood were awarded a penalty but it came to nothing.

With the wind in their favour, Kingswood were controlling the 2nd half's possession and half way through the 2nd half, Aretians fumbled a ball from their scrum which was kicked through their defensive line by Dave Vince, Mike Oakley chased the loose ball and it sat up nicely in the Aretians try area for Mike to fall on and score Kingswood 2nd try and hand them back the lead.  Dean Stephens converted again to give Kingswood a 14-10 lead.

10 minutes before the end of the game, Kingswood had a scrum from which Ben Phillips received the ball.  Ben sent a quick pass out to Dean Stephens who in turn passed the ball out to Ryan Bernard which saw him go over to score his 2nd try of the match and top a brilliant performance.  Dean Stephens once again converted and Kingswood finished up 21-10 winners.

Full Time: Kingswood 21 - 7 Aretians B