Kingswood Return To Winning Ways Away From Home

After back to back defeats in the league, Kingswood travelled to Gloucester 1 strugglers, Aretians. Victory could see Kingswood climb up as high as 5th in the league, but defeat could see them placed dangerously close to the relegation zone.

After all the recent injuries, Kingswood lined-up with one of their strongest teams in recent weeks with Paul Allen, Mark Oakley, Dean Stephens all returning from injury. Damien Crosswell was missing from the front row however and so Mark Oakley went up front and Ian Crook was called up to the pack.

The weather was poor and the light was fading fast, but nonetheless the game kicked off on time. Kingswood were placed on the back foot in the opening exchanges and a couple of penalties meant that Aretians soon had a pop at the posts, but No. 12 was unable to convert.

With 6 minutes on the clock, Kingswood had their first chance of points with a Ben Phillips penalty, however, Phillips was also unable to convert and the game remained at 0-0.

Kingswood kept on the gas and were soon attacking Aretians once again. Ashley Honeywell was unlucky not to go over the corner, but from the resulting 5 metre lineout, a Kingswood rolling maul made its way to the line before Ian Crook spun off the back and dived on the line. The try was awarded and Kingswood had an early 7th minute lead. The conversion from Ben Phillips was missed but Kingswood led 0-5.

With 11 minutes of the game gone, Aretians were penalised for not binding in the scrum and then ill-discipline saw them marched back 10 metres and into kicking range. Ben Phillips stepped up and slotted home the kick, extending Kingswood’s lead to 0-8.

20 minutes on the clock and after a spell of dominating play, Kingswood found themselves in Aretians 22, but the home side had the put in at the scrum. Aretians No. 9 spun the ball back to his No. 12 who put his boot through the ball in an attempted clearance. Unfortunately, Ben Phillips had other ideas and charged down the kick and stopped the ball with his chest. The ball bounced nicely in the try zone, right behind the posts, and Phillips fell on the ball to increase Kingswood’s lead. Phillips also added the extras and Kingswood were now cruising at 0-15.

With things running smoothly for Kingswood, they were then hit by a disaster. After nearly grabbing a try, Kingswood’s always influential Forward, Dave Tomlin, broke/dislocated his ankle/shin whilst stretching for the line. An ambulance was called and the game was delayed for 35 minutes as Tomlin was taken off to hospital.

The break in play did not help Kingswood and with the pack now lighter than usual, Aretians started to regain a lot more possession. With 26 minutes gone, Aretians then pulled back 3 points with a penalty. 3-15.

With 5 minutes of the 1st half remaining, Aretians then shot themselves in the foot. Rob Lamb came in from the side of a ruck and Aretians were awarded a penalty, unfortunately, some Aretians players saw this as a reason to start a punch-up. Kingswood remained calm throughout the flare-up and this resulted in Aretians receiving a straight red card to their No. 1 and a yellow card to their No. 5.

With Aretians down to 13, Kingswood capitalised when a fast flowing Backs move culminated in Winger James Willmott going over in the corner, to put Kingswood 3-20 up.

The first was then brought to a end with Kingswood firmly in control.

Half Time: Aretians 3 – 20 Kingswood

With the floodlights now providing the only light source and with the pitch a boggy mess, the 2nd half was literally a pointless affair.

Kingswood remained in control due to the extra man, but with the ball caked in mud and with the light making things extremely difficult, the remainder of the game was played out with the same score as the first.

Kingswood were unable to grab the 4th try that would have seen them gain a bonus point, but an away victory was more than welcome after the recent defeats. With results in the league going their way, Kingswood have indeed moved up to 5th in the league, if injuries had not plagued us this season, goodness knows where we could have been!

Next week there is a free weekend, fixture to be confirmed.

Final Score: Aretians 3 – 20 Kingswood.