Match Report

Friendly Match

Kingswood 'A' Vs Dings IV XV

Kingswood’s last game of the year saw them field a mixture of all 3 teams as they faced a friendly match with Dings 4^th XV.

With Dings short of a players, Kingswood leant them a few of their own, namely Andy Leibow, Gareth Pond, Adam Morris, Bramwell Beecroft and the services of Barton Hills Sam Seaborne.

There was an impressive start made by the Kingswood 3^rd team Vice Captain Matt Phillips when he put in the first tackle of the game after only 10 seconds on the clock and kneed himself in the face and promptly left the field injured.

Matt Phillips off, Damien Crosswell on.

Kingswood fell behind with only 7 minutes on the clock when they were penalised for playing the ball on the floor and Dings No. 15 slotted home the kick to make the score 0-3

On the quarter hour mark, Dings increased their lead further after some scrappy play from both teams led to a long pass out wide and on loan Andy Leibow found room to go over in the corner.  No. 15 added the extra two points and Kingswood trailed 0-10

2 minutes later and Dings scored again as they strung together a lovely flowing move and on loan Adam Morris made a strong break downfield before the ball fell to on loan Sam Seaborne whose strong run took him over the line to make the score 0-15

There was another score for Dings on the half hour mark as once again Andy Leibow found space out wide to cross the line. No. 15 again added the two points and Kingswood found themselves 0-22 down at half time.

 Half Time:  Kingswood 'A' 0-22 Dings IV XV

There were 7 changes for Kingswood at half time with Dave Boots, Steve Trevelyan, Lewis Brain, Lewis Voisey, James Thorne, Mike Quick and Anthony Davies coming off and Paul Allen, Stan Bailey, Neil Ward, Sam Massey, Rob Edwards, Dan Nicholls and Matt Davies coming on.

It took Kingswood 53 minutes before they finally grabbed their first points of the game when an impressive scrum took the ball against the head 5m out and Mark McGarrigle, Sam Massey and finally Matt Davies combined well to grab Kingswood their first try.  Without the aid of a kicking tee on the long grass, Mark McGarrigle was unable to add the extra two points but Kingswood had made the scores closer at 5-22

Just after the hour mark, Kingswood were awarded a series of penalties which were all tapped quickly and crashed forward.  Damien Crosswell, sporting some lovely pink shorts, finally crashed the ball over the line for Kingswood.  Mark McGarrigle was again unable to add the 2 points 10-22

Straight after the try I realised I may have a kicking tee in the boot of my car and ran to get it, when I returned I was just in time to see Paul Allen getting the ball down over the line to grab Kingswood another try, only 2 minutes after the last.  Obviously being away from the pitch I don’t have description of the try but Paul Allen assures me it involved great skill and trickery combined with flare and style. If anyone knows different then please let me know.  Sadly, my efforts in retrieving the kicking tee were in vain as the conversion attempt was unsuccessful but Kingswood now trailed 15-22 with 12 minutes left of the game and an impressive 2^nd half comeback was well and truly on.

Kingswood then made a slight reshuffle as Steve Trevelyan returned to the field, replacing an injured Matt Davies.

Kingswood controlled the last 10 minutes of the game and a series of crash balls got them to within feet of grabbing that all important 4^th try, but during the last phase the ball was agonisingly lost to Dings during a ruck and a downfield kick looked to have secured Dings the victory. However, Kingswood attacked once again and Rob Edwards went on an excellent solo run to carry the ball up the wing and deep into the Dings 22.  A ruck formed and the ball recycled well before Steve Trevelyan received the ball and burst through the defence to incredibly get the ball down under the posts to bring Kingswood within a conversion of the draw.  Mark McGarrigle stepped up and with a simple kick, slotted the ball over for the extra two points and Kingswood had completed an impressive 2^nd half comeback to grab the draw at the death. 

The referee didn’t even allow the restart and both teams left the field sharing the spoils.  Despite the game ending in a draw, Kingswood can take pride in the fact that their players (and a Barton Hill loner) had scored all the tries which made for a very entertaining game of rugby.

Full Time: Kingswood 'A' 22-22 Dings IV XV

(Quotes of the week below)