Kingswood Shock Dursley, But It Just Wasn't Enough

Fresh off the back of their morale boosting victory over Cotham Park last weekend, Kingswood made the journey north to play table-toppers, Dursley. The last time these two teams met, Dursley secured a comfortable victory at the Big K, on their way to securing promotion into Gloucester 1. A few years on and in the same league once again, Kingswood were confident of a close result, despite the difference in their league position, but injuries picked up against Cotham Park meant that there were one or two changes in the back line. Ashley Honeywell and James Willmott were both unavailable but Kingswood welcomed back Joe Jones-Griffiths. Alex Green and Mark Oakley were also missing from the Forwards.

Having reportedly heard a couple of Dursley players discussing that today’s game should be “a walk in the park” Kingswood started the game fired up and ready to put the record straight. Sadly, the first quarter of an hour was controlled by Dursley as their Forwards kept possession well, meaning Kingswood struggled to get any time on the ball. Despite some resolute defending, Kingswood’s defence cracked and with just 15 minutes gone, Dursley’s No. 8 crashed over the line for the first try of the game. The conversion was missed but Dursley had the lead. 5-0.

This early try, coupled with the supposed opinion that this game would be easy, must have led Dursley to a relaxed state, because they then felt the wrath of Kingswood. Kingswood started to control possession and territory and soon realised that they could make great ground in the Backs. With the half hour mark approaching and with Kingswood controlling proceedings, they then suffered a set-back as they lost the services of Ben Phillips at No. 9 due to injury. Matt Bryant came on in his place.

Kingswood remained unyielding despite this early setback and were soon awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Dean Stephens slotting home the conversion. 5-3

From the restart, Kingswood retained possession and were soon driving forward with an excellent rolling maul. An attempted pass to Dave Tomlin was deflected towards the floor, but the quick instincts of Tomlin saw him kick the chip the ball through the defence before punting it towards the Dursley try-line. Joe Jones-Griffiths got to the lose ball first and secured possession before popping the ball to an unmarked Tomlin who flopped over the line for the score. Dean Stephens missed the conversion but Kingswood had the lead at 5-8.

With half-time fast approaching, Kingswood managed to work their way into the Dursley 22 following some excellent running in the Backs once again. Kingswood were eventually awarded a scrum 5 metres out and a simple crash ball pass to Tom-Jones Griffiths saw the Centre smash over the line to extend Kingswood lead further. The resulting conversion was missed again but Kingswood amazingly now led 5-13.

But that wasn’t the end of the action, Kingswood attacked once again, with devastating play that had Dursley running all over the place. Eventually Dursley were forced to concede the penalty and Joe Jones-Griffiths slotted home the kick on the half-time whistle to give Kingswood a healthy 5-16 lead.

Half Time: Dursley 5-16 Kingswood

It was fair to say that Dursley were a little shell shocked by the Kingswood fight back, proven by the conversations that were taking place behind the posts during the conversions, but Kingswood new that the 2nd half was going to be a lot more ferocious than the first.

5 minutes after the restart, Dursley were awarded a penalty and in a testament to how well Kingswood were playing, Dursley decided to take the 3 points, whereas in the first half, they were clearly going for the tries. Luckily the penalty was missed and Kingswood’s lead remained in tact.

4 minutes later and Kingswood were on the front foot and attacking once again. The Forwards worked the ball well out to the left hand side before securing the ruck. The Backs lined up and a quick hands move eventually saw Full-Back, Joe Jones-Griffiths, tearing forward with the ball. Jones-Griffiths rode the first Dursley challenge before passing the ball out to Lewis Voisey on the wing who now had space in front of him, just 6 metres out. Inches from the line, the Dursley Inside Centre then came tearing across to tackle Voisey. Sadly for Dursley, the tackle was around the neck and the referee didn’t even wait to see if the ball was grounded, as he jogged off to award the penalty try. The simple conversion was made by Joe-Jones Griffiths and Kingswood now had a lead that few would have given them at the start of the game. 5-23.

The fight back that Kingswood feared from Dursley was then put into fruition as with only 2 minutes gone since Kingswood’s try, Dursley’s lumpy No. 3 crashed over the line. The conversion was made and Kingswood’s lead was slashed to 12-23.

In a similar vein, Dursley continued to press forward and just after the hour mark, their No.3 managed to get over the line once again. The referee was unable to see the grounding of the ball, but looking for inspiration, he asked the DURSLEY Coach stood behind the posts if the ball was grounded. The Dursley Coach said it was and the referee awarded the try, much to the anger of the Kingswood players, especially after Kingswood’s Paul Allen had a try not given for the same reason a few minutes earlier. The conversion was made and the lead closed to a more uncomfortable 19-23.

It was Kingswood who were now rattled and slightly peeved at having let such a good lead slip. With 10 minutes of the game remaining, Kingswood brought off Nick Coe and replaced him with Ian Crook as they looked to add a fresh pair of lungs to the Forwards to help slow the Dursley train.

73 minutes gone and Kingswood then scored a try that they thought would have effectively sealed the game. Tom Jones-Griffiths was instrumental in the attack as he made excellent progress into the Dursley 22 and the Kingswood Forwards followed in behind to secure the ruck. The ball was the quickly spread wide by Matt Bryant, ran forward by Dean Stephens, who then fed Lewis Voisey 5 metres out. Voisey got his head down and dived over the line for the Kingswood score. The conversion was missed but Kingswood went a converted try in front once again, with just 7 minutes remaining.

With 2 minutes now remaining, Dursley were now back on the attack and Kingswood tried to defend the frantic onslaught. Agonisingly for Kingswood, Lewis Voisey was then sent to the bin for apparently deliberately slowing the ball down at the ruck, something he whole hearted denies. Anyway, the ball was retained by Dursley and the pain in their arse all afternoon, No. 3, found a gap to slip over for his hat-trick. The conversion was missed but the score was now 24-28 and we were now in injury time.

And still the game continued and soon Dursley were on the attack once again. Kingswood hearts were in mouths as a number of missed tackles let Dursley into Kingswood’s 22. There was then a huge sigh of relief and huge cheers as Dursley knocked on to gift Kingswood a scrum. Kingswood secured the scrum but Dursley drove forward, forcing a forced rush pass and a resulting rushed clearance. The ball didn’t make touch and Dursley ran the ball back into Kingswood’s 22. Kingswood’s defence tried to reorganise quickly, but Dursley spread the ball well and with the referees whistle just waiting for the ball to go out, Dursley’s No. 1 slipped over the line to hand Dursley a last minute victory. 31-28.

The Kingswood players, and the travelling fans as well, couldn’t believe what they had just seen. Newly promoted Kingswood, just a clearance away from a 5 point victory, away, to top of the league opposition. But it wasn’t meant to be sadly and Kingswood slipped to a 2nd away defeat.

Still, despite the loss, Kingswood came away with 2, very handy, bonus points, it wasn’t the 5 they deserved, but these 2 points gave light between themselves and the relegation zone.

Next week, Kingswood welcome newly relegated Hucclecote to the Big K. We now have a digital camcorder and some scaffolding, so DVD’s of the match will be available to purchase at training on Tuesday 12th October.

Final Score: Dursley 31-28 Kingswood