After guaranteeing promotion into Gloucester 1 last week with victory over Cheltenham Saracens, the 2nd of Kingswood’s 3 challenges came in the form of an away trip to Tetbury. Victory today would bring the accolade of ‘Gloucester 2 2009/10 League Champions’ as well as bringing Kingswood one step closer to being ‘undefeated’ Champions.

Kingswood’s Back’s were changed for the first time in 4 weeks with Joe Jones-Griffiths replacing the unavailable Ian Kirley at Full-Back. Ben Phillips, Dean Stephens, Paul Allen, Gareth Pond, James Willmott and Anthony Davies made up the rest of the back line. In the Forwards, Dave Vince’s absence saw Mark Oakley move up to Hooker. The rest of the pack included Rob Lamb, Neil Ward, Stan Bailey, Nick Coe, Alex Green, Dave Tomlin and Vince Murrell.

Playing down the slope in the first half, Kingswood made an excellent start to the game when they were awarded a penalty kick with just 45 seconds on the clock. Unfortunately, Ben Phillip’s put the kick attempt just wide and so the scores remained the same.

Some what surprisingly, despite the bright start, Kingswood then found themselves playing most of the rugby in their half of the pitch as Tetbury made good progress through the Forwards and Kingswood didn’t help themselves with a few knock-on’s and poor clearances. The weather was also playing its part, with torrential downpours every so often turning the pitch into a boggy mess.

Kingswood’s defence remained resolute during this period and finally came away from their half unscathed. With 20 minutes of the game gone and a nervous sideline watching on, Kingswood then made a breakthrough. A lineout to Kingswood on Tetbury’s 5 metre line was secured by Alex Green and some great work in the Forwards took the ball to within inches of the try-line. With the ball seemingly on its way to the Backs, Mark Oakley cut a lovely little line behind Scrum Half Ben Phillips to receive a little pop pass before crashing over the line. A video of this try is available to watch in the Photos and Videos section, sadly, in my excitement, I chucked the camera in the air and missed the grounding on the ball, but the build up play is still good to watch. Anyway, the conversion was missed by Ben Phillips, not helped by an ill timed cough from the opposition sideline, but Kingswood had that all important lead. 0-5.

6 minutes later and Tetbury held possession just inside Kingswood’s half. A slight fumble meant the ball was quickly chucked back to Tetbury’s No. 6 (I believe) who tried to hand off an advancing Vince Murrell to bide himself some time. Unfortunately, Murrell grabbed the outstretched arm before proceeding to spin the poor kid round like a rag doll and plunging him into the muddy floor. The ball was quickly turned over and spread to Dean Stephens who then released Paul Allen in the Centre who in turn gave it to Winger James Willmott just in Tetbury’s half. Willmott handed off his opposite number then ran the ball in under the posts. Ben Phillips added the extras and Kingswood now led 0-12.

4 minutes later and Kingswood found themselves attacking once again with a scrum within Tetbury’s half. Vince Murrell was instrumental once again as he broke from his No. 8 position and which required several Forwards to halt the big man. Quick ball meant the Backs were on an attacking run within seconds and Paul Allen broke the defensive line before popping out to Dean Stephens who was able to dive over the line for the score. Ben Phillips was unable to add the 2 points but Kingswood were now cruising at 0-17

10 minutes before half time and Kingswood increased their lead further with a penalty kick from Ben Phillips to make the scores 0-20.

Frustratingly for Kingswood, with the rain making the ground extremely soft underneath, Tetbury managed to pull themselves back into the game, much against the run of play, after a lineout on the 5 metre line eventually mauled its way over the line. Tetbury’s No. 10 converted just as the final whistle sounded for half time. 7-20.

Half Time: Tetbury 7 – 20 Kingswood

40 minutes away from the title, Kingswood only had to wait 1 minute to increase their lead. A lineout to Kingswood in Tetbury’s 22 was secured and a rolling maul formed. The maul ripped through Tetbury until at one point there was only one poor guy trying to stop it. Excellent ground was made until Tetbury finally managed to halt the mauls proceedings. At this point the ball was quickly sent to the Backs and in a move that parted the Tetbury defence better than anything Moses could have done, the ball landed with Anthony Davies who smashed through an attempted tackle on the line to grab the try. Ben Phillips slotted home the conversion and Kingswood had restored their 20 point lead. 7-27.

There was then another period of attacking possession for Tetbury in Kingswood’s half as Kingswood needlessly put themselves under pressure. There was again, however, some great defence by Kingswood. Eventually Dean Stephens put in a great tackle that led to the ball being turned over and cleared by Kingswood.

With an hour and 6 minutes gone, Tetbury tried in vain to stop a Kingswood rolling maul and Kingswood were awarded a penalty after Tetbury deliberately pulled it down. The penalty was kicked to touch and the lineout secured before another rolling maul went over the line. This time Neil Ward crashed over. This try is also available to watch online. The conversion from Phillips was missed but Kingswood looked to have the game, and the league title, in the bag. 7-32.

With 12 minutes remaining, there were then 3 substitutions for Kingswood in the space of two minutes. First a double sub as Dave Tomlin and Nick Coe were replaced by Steve Trevelyan and Matthew Perriman. A minute later, Neil Ward made way for Damien Crosswell.

With 6 minutes of the game left, Kingswood were controlling proceedings with the put-in at a scrum, 10 metres from the Tetbury try-line. Strangely, despite an injury to Tetbury’s No. 8, the referee was not interested in waiting for him and allowed Kingswood to get on with it. Feeling slightly aggrieved, worst was to come for Tetbury as simple hands from the Kingswood Backs eventually led to Joe Jones-Griffiths diving over the line. No conversion again for Ben Phillips, the boggy conditions making kicking nigh on impossible, but the sideline were buzzing as the referee’s final whistle approached.

Sadly, the final whistle wasn’t as dramatic, or as loud, as we had expected, in fact, several of us missed it, so there was not the roar of celebration we would have like. Still, who cares, with the whistle (or lack of it) came the title, which meant Kingswood would be going up as ‘Numero Uno’s!’

So, a big congratulations to the boys for their historic achievement this season and also a big thank you and well done to Mike Jones for turning up and coaching week in and week out, not a bad start to your managerial CV hey? Also, big thanks to Redford Pennycook for all his help in training.

Of course it doesn’t end there for Kingswood. Next week there is a testing away trip to 3rd place Cotham Park, who will be desperate for victory as they looked to secure the 2nd promotion place.

Well done everyone again.

Final Score: Tetbury 7 – 37 Kingswood

FROM TETBURY
TETBURY'S recent good run of results was ended by the unbeaten league leaders Kingswood.

Kingswood were very well drilled and ultimately more physical in their approach.

Nevertheless, Tetbury were on terms for a large part of the match and it took 25 minutes for Kingswood to open the scoring. Tetbury, playing against slope and wind, eventually paid the price for conceding silly penalties and Kingswood added three tries in a ten-minute spell, including an excellent individual effort from the left winger and an impressive crash move.

Tetbury were not cowed and responded with a try of their own before the break when Mike Tree and Luke Payne were driven over the line to claim a joint score. The Tetbury scrum was impressive throughout and managed to drive the visitors off the ball several times.

Mark Breddy, Bernard Ahern and Brian Goldstone were notable in both attack and defence as the game settled down to a forward battle for most of the second half.

Kingswood's driving maul proved difficult to stop legally and were it not for the fact that the match had slipped away already, the referee made it clear that Tetbury's attempts to bring the maul down would have led to yellow cards for Ben Pockett and Brian Bawden.

The line-out worked well for the home side, Rich Witchell providing good service to the line, but in the end, the scores came for Kingswood as they rumbled forward relentlessly.

This is an important result for Kingswood as it confirms that they are crowned champions of Div 2 with 3 matches left for them to play.