Match Report

Gloucester III's League Match

Pilning V Kingswood

I promised myself that this week I would write a match report without using the word "dominated", sadly I have had to break that promise as there is no other word that sums up Kingswood's game better.

Pilning were unable to put out a full squad against Kingswood and played the whole game with 14 men.  However, this should not overshadow the fact that Kingswood played an awesome game of rugby and clearly would have "dominated" if Pilning were at full strength.

The first try came with only 2 minutes on the clock, with the rain belting it down, Kingswood made great yards with a rolling maul, Paul Allen broke away before passing it out to Dean Stephens who then fed Rich Francis, who finished with no problems.  0-5

5 minutes later, Pilning were awarded a penalty and they opted to take the points and their No. 10 converted well.  3-5

Kingswood then went on to have a large spell of possession, and on 15 minutes Ben Phillips chipped the ball over the Pilning defence and ran through and collected the loose ball before passing out to Dave Vince, who went over for Kingswood's 2nd try of the game.  Dean Stephens converted and Kingswood were 3-12 up.

Kingswood's scrums were awesome and the heavy rain made it very difficult for Pilning to force Kingswood back.  As a result, Kingswood used scrums and rolling mauls to drive their way up the pitch.  This was put to good use on 27 minutes when after a Kingswood scrum, there was a pick up and drive and the Kingswood maul drove into the Pilning try area before Neil Ward got the ball down to score Kingswood 3rd try.

On the half hour mark, a Pilning lineout went too long and Kingswood collected the ball and made good yards before Steve Trevelyan went over and scored Kingswood's 4th try.  Dean Stephens converted and Kingswood were now 3-24 in front.

Kingswood were starting to play some champagne rugby despite the horrible handling conditions and there was time for one more try for them in the first half when John Bogan pressured a Pilning player and forced him into a risky pass which was intercepted by Paul Allen, who went over to make the score Pilning 3 - 31 Kingswood at half time.

Half Time: Pilning 3 - 31

The 2nd half was pretty much a repeat of the first, with Kingswood in full control of the game.  The rain was still relentless and this made the playing conditions very tricky.  Kingswood made two substitutions near the start of the 2nd half with Tony Wheeler & Neil Ward coming off and Mike Oakley & Ben Feltham coming on.

7 minutes into the 2nd half and Kingswood scored their 6th try of the match when Steve Trevelyan broke through and went on a long run only to be tackled near the Pilning try line, Ben Phillips picked up the ball from the ruck and headed for the line before unselfishly passing it over to John Bogan who scored his first of the match.

6 minutes later and a long kick up field from Pilning was caught in the Kingswood half by Ian Kirley, Kirley passed the ball out to Rich Francis who went on an unbelievable run, skipping past Pilning players before passing the ball out to John Bogan who went over to score his 2nd of the match.

3 minutes later and Kingswood were starting to take Pilning apart.  Dave Vince passed a crash ball out to Ian Kirley who was unchallenged as he ran through the Pilning defence to bag Kingswood their 8th try of the match.

Paul Allen was then replaced by Tristan Barton.  With the rain STILL pouring, Kingswood then went on to show impressive strength by driving a maul more than 25m metres down the pitch before finally being pushed into touch.  In the last 5 minutes of the match, Kingswood managed to grab themselves two more tries.  A Pilning scrum was overturned and Stan Bailey picked the ball out and passed it out to Dave Vince who sold an outrageous dummy and ran through the gap to grab his 2nd try of the game.

Straight from the restart, Rich Francis went on another outstanding run before chipping the ball towards the Pilning try line, Tristan Barton ran onto the loose ball and fell on it to score his first try and complete an outstanding performance by Kingswood.

Full Time: Pilning 3 - 60

Quote of the Week: "I hope it doesn't rain during the game, we might get wet" - Dean Stephens