After last week’s demoralising last minute defeat away to Dursley, Kingswood welcomed last seasons Gloucester Prem outfit, Hucclecote, to the Big K. Kingswood had a super strength Pack with Rob Lamb, Dave Vince, Damien Crosswell, Nick Coe, Alastair Lewis, Alex Green, Steve Trevelyan and Dave Tomlin making up the starting 8. As for the Backs, despite Tom Jones-Griffiths being unavailable, they too lined up incredibly strong. Ashley Honeywell partnered Paul Allen in the Centre, Joe Jones-Griffiths took care of Full-Back and Lewis Voisey and James Willmott covered the Wings. Ben Phillips and Dean Stephens covered the usual 9/10 positions.

Hucclecote arrived early and from the back of their mini bus exited some rather young and fit looking players, so Kingswood were prepared for a busy afternoon. The weather was breezy and overcast and Kingswood started the match playing from left to right.

Kingswood went into attack mode straight from the off with Fly-Half Dean Stephens securing the territory in the opening few seconds. From here, Kingswood kept ‘Cote pinned in and eventually were awarded a lineout directly on the 22. Alex Green secured the ball and a rolling maul was set-up. Kingswood gave a little nudge and moved effortlessly towards the ‘Cote try-line, so they continued to push, and push, and push. With the powerful maul now inches from the line, it was suddenly pulled down by ‘Cote and Kingswood were awarded the advantage, it wasn’t needed though as the referee noticed that Steve Trevelyan had already got the ball down over the line and Kingswood were awarded the try with only 4 minutes on the clock. A lovely little conversion from Ben Phillips meant Kingswood were 7-0 up.

With 7 minutes gone, Hucclecote had the chance to pull 3 points back when Kingswood were penalised for not releasing. The impressive kick from No. 14 had the legs, but the accuracy was out and Kingswood escaped.

Kingswood should have then increased their lead when Joe Jones-Griffiths and Lewis Voisey had a 2 on 1 situation presented to them, however, Jones-Griffiths tried the dummy pass but was found out and the chance went begging.

With quarter of an hour gone, Hucclecote eventually pulled 3 points back when Kingswood were judged to been offside and No. 14 this time made no mistake from the tee. 7-3.

With the half hour mark rapidly approaching, Kingswood were awarded a penalty in their half for offside. Dean Stephens sent the kick downfield into touch and Kingswood had a lineout on the 10 metre line. The lineout was secured and a brief rolling maul ensued before the ball was sent to the Backs. A lovely move eventually led to Ashley Honeywell breaking clear and getting behind Cote’s defensive line. Honeywell then fed Full-Back Joe Jones-Griffiths who this time took the sensible option by passing to Lewis Voisey on the wing when the overlap presented itself and Voisey got the ball down over the line for his 4 try of the season. Ben Phillips put the conversion wide, but Kingswood now led 12-3.

Soon after, Kingswood had the chance to extend their lead when they were awarded a penalty, but to get it, it would have required an extraordinary 50 metre, half way line conversion, from Ashley Honeywell. Incredibly, the kick from Honeywell had the legs, but the kick went just wide.

With injury time now upon us, there was time for one last piece of action as Hucclecote were awarded a penalty and No. 14 slotted home the conversion to half Kingswood’s lead going in to half time. 12-6.

Half Time: Kingswood 12 – 6 Hucclecote

Kingswood knew where to improve things in the 2nd half and were pleased to see that Hucclecote were offering very little in the way of endangering the score line. However, after last weeks collapse, Kingswood were determined to remain resolute.

With 3 minutes of the 2nd half gone, Dean Stephens sent a lovely grubber kick downfield that bounced into touch just outside Hucclecote’s 22. The ‘Cote lineout was snatched from the air by Alex Green and Kingswood setup a surprise rolling maul which made great ground before again being collapsed near the try-line. The ball was quickly spun out to Damien Crosswell who tried to smash over the line but was excellently tackled, however, some quick thinking from Crosswell saw him pop the ball up to Nick Coe in support who wormed his way over the line in the corner for his first ever 1st XV try. Ben Phillips missed the extras but Kingswood had secured a great start to the 2nd half. 17-6.

With the 2nd half progressing nicely, Kingswood then suffered a setback when Centre Paul Allen pulled up with a hamstring injury. Nathan Pratt came on in his place and James Willmott moved to Full-Back whilst Joe Jones-Griffiths joined Ashley Honeywell in the Centre.

Just after this substitution, a clearance from ‘Cote was secured by Alex Green and smashed back into the Forwards. A few phases later and Kingswood were awarded a penalty. Opting to keep the scoreboard ticking over, Ben Phillips slotted home the 3 point conversion for a 20-6 lead.

Exactly 10 minutes later and quick thinking from Steve Trevelyan saw him turn over possession at the breakdown before Kingswood were awarded a penalty when ‘Cote were done for not releasing the tackled player. It was also at this point that ‘Cote’s No. 17 fell out of favour with the referee. More on that later. Anyway, Ben Phillips slotted over the conversion and Kingswood were looking good at 23-6

Just 3 minutes later and smack on the hour mark, Hucclecote were then reduced to 14 men after the aforementioned No. 17 pushed the referees buttons one too many times as was sent to cool down. With No. 17 now off the pitch and the ‘Cote Hooker off with an injury, the remainder of the game was played with uncontested scrums. As Kingswood were performing well in the scrums, this was a major setback and could now give ‘Cote a good attacking platform.

Unfortunately, Kingswood were unable to make the extra man count, because 5 minutes later, whilst Hucclecote were attacking in Kingswood’s 22, Joe Jones-Griffiths also found himself in the bin for deliberately slowing the ball down, allegedly.

Kingswood then made their 2nd substitution with Alex Green coming off and Mark Oakley coming on.

And then for what some people are calling “An early contender for try of the season”. Admittedly it’s the try scorer, Ben Phillips, whose been saying it, but he may have a point. A lineout to Kingswood on the halfway line was secured by Alastair Lewis and the ball was passed from the top down to Ben Phillips. Phillips dummied a pass to Dean Stephens in the Backs before switching direction and running blindside around what remained of the lineout. Catching all the Hucclecote players off-guard, Phillips burst up the wing before sending a delicate little chip over the head of the ‘Cote Winger. With both Phillips and the Hucclecote Full-Back now charging towards the same bouncing ball, Phillips had a stroke of luck as the ball popped up off the floor and right into his arms. With a slight sidestep, Phillips was now tearing towards an unmarked try-line. With his lungs now on fire and with the line in stumbling distance, Phillips began his stylish descent towards the ground with one arm up in celebration before crashing over the line for the score. The crowd went wild but the Kingswood players looked on in apprehension as they knew they would never hear the end of it. Still, they needn’t worry as it was caught on camera and is available for ANYBODY to watch, here: https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/kingswood/?section=videos_photos_view&video_id=9655 Despite this lung bursting run, Phillips still had the energy to slot home the conversion and Kingswood had the victory, plus, another bonus point (The most in the league don’t you know!) 30-6

With two minutes of normal time remaining, Ben Phillips was then replaced by Matt Bryant.

The end of the game was a bit disappointing/frustrating for Kingswood as the referee continually penalised them and with the scrums uncontested, Hucclecote continued to get free runs at the Kingswood defence. Ultimately, this led to ‘Cote scoring a try in the 84th minute. No. 14 grabbing the points, although he was unable to add the conversion. 30-11

Incredibly the game went into the 88th minute and still Hucclecote attacked as Kingswood tried to keep them at bay. Fortunately, a timely knock-on from ‘Cote brought the game to an end, much to the delight of everyone on the sideline.

So, if there was any doubt that Kingswood belonged in Gloucester 1, this was eradicated on the back of this performance. Solid up front and devastating in the Backs, Kingswood moved up to an impressive 6th place in the league with 12 points, 7 points clear of the danger zone.

Next week, Kingswood play Ashley Down in the cup, again! This will be the 2nd time these two have met this season and they haven’t even played a league fixture yet!

A DVD of the game is available to purchase for £3. Come see me and I’ll get one done for you.

Final Score: Kingswood 30 – 11 Hucclecote