Kingswood exited the Gloucester Cup in the first round on Saturday after an enthralling match, yet below-par performance, away at the league rivals, Gloucester Spartans. Kingswood have struggled with injuries as the intensity of pre-season training has ramped up, with Jones Jones-Griffiths, Lee Powell and Joe McMullen all unavailable for selection. There was worse news to come for Kingswood as late changes from Tuesdays selection saw Dean Stephens, Daniel Harris & Dan Howlett also become unavailable. This meant there were late call-ups for youngsters Dave Lilley, Charlie Spokes and Jake Gent.

Kingswood gave competitive debuts to Gareth Williams, Liam O’Loughlin and Scott Bailey. Harri Richards was required to step in at Scrum-Half, Scott Bailey & Robbie Edwards were brought in from the wings into the centre and Captain Ashley Honeywell moved into Fly-Half, as the injuries forced a huge reshuffle in the back line.

The game itself was a bit of a pig to watch, as Kingswood struggled to find their flow with so many players out of position. Spartans were the first to get on the scoreboard early on in the game when they drove over a rolling maul from a 5 metre lineout. However, it wasn’t long until Kingswood were level in similar fashion, when Mark Oakley stole the ball from a Spartans maul before smashing through some attempted tackles to power over the line. Ashley Honeywell added a splendid conversion to level the scores.

The rest of the game was controlled well by Spartans, but a lack of creativity meant Kingswood were able to defend and hold firm. With only 20 minutes of the game remaining, Spartans had only managed to add 3 points to their tally, taking the score to 10-7.

But then, as Spartans began to tire, Kingswood really began to turn the screw and dominated the remainder of the match. Kingswood had 2 opportunities to level the scores in the final quarter, but on both occasions they rightly opted for a ‘go big or go home’ mentality and decided to get the ball into the corner to try and snatch victory with a try, however the lineouts had misfired most of the afternoon and both chances were squandered.

With just a few minutes remaining, another penalty was awarded and Kingswood finally caved and went for the posts. Honeywell made the kick and in an event rarely seen in rugby, the game was heading for extra time.

Kingswood knew that the game was there for the taking after controlling the end of normal time, so they set out to put the game to bed early on, and very quickly it appeared they had done just that. With a penalty awarded to Kingswood in the Spartans half, Scrum Half Harri Richards took a quick tap and ran at the Spartans defence in an attempt to draw another penalty, however Spartans allowed him to run. Richards made a few yards before sending a delicate chip over the top of the defence before giving chase. The unexpected kick caught Spartans off-guard and Richards was first to the ball as it bounced into the try area, securing Kingswood a fantastic try. Agonisingly, a difficult side-line conversion from Honeywell was bang on target, but dropped less than a foot short of the crossbar. Kingswood had a slender 10-15 lead as the first period of extra time ended.

During the break, Kingswood knew what was required for the final 10 minutes. Retain possession from the kick-off, keep it up the jumper and then ping the ball deep into the Spartans half. However, Kingswood managed to put their finger on the self-destruct button as the restart was left to bounce, Spartans regained possession, put a few phases together, before a simple backs move sliced Kingswood in half and a try was scored right under the posts. With less than a minute gone in the 2nd period, Kingswood were once again trailing with time running out fast. 17-15.

To make matters worse, there was more reshuffling required as Kingswood’s stand-in Scrum Half, Harri Richards, was forced to leave the field with an injury and the job was handed to Hooker, Dave Vince.

The final 10 minutes were a frantic affair. The side-lines were ferocious, the players were frantic and the game had reached fever pitch. Some excellent phases of play from Kingswood had Robbie Edwards within a nats hair of a winning try, but the grounding was thwarted at the last second. Kingswood did have a chance to win the game with a few minutes remaining, but Honeywell’s penalty kick drifted to the left of the post, and that brought to end a frantic 100 minutes of Cup rugby, and Kingswood had been knocked out.

Once the emotion of the game had finished, it became clear that there were some huge positives to take from the game. Despite the tricky away fixture and all the injuries, Kingswood had plenty of chances to win against a team that finished 4th in Gloucester 2 last year. With some big names due to come back and with a nice run of home fixtures to look forward to at the start of the league season, Kingswood are in a good position to be able to mount a good promotion push.

2 huge training sessions are now required this week to put a few things right before we face the first league opponents of the season, Old Colstonians.

Final Score: Spartans 17-15 Kingswood (AET)