Kingswood Earn Comfortable Victory Over Local Rivals

Kingswood looked to increase their winning run this week as they faced BAC away from home. Due to cup fixtures, this was the first time the two teams had met this season. Kingswood were without wingers Brad Whiston and Adam Morris and they were also missing Prop Mike Oakley for the game, they did however welcome back Full Back Paul Bennett from injury. Due to the winger shortage, Ben Phillips started on the wing and Dave Vince started at Scrum Half.

With the strong wind blowing diagonally across the pitch, Kingswood played the first half predominantly playing into it which meant that ball in hand was going to be the key to success.

With only four minutes on the clock and after an opening exchange of kicks, Kingswood put together a rolling maul that crashed down the pitch taking them deep into BAC's 22. A few slow phases of crash ball finally ended with Captain Paul Allen receiving the ball in the backs and slipping his way through a gap in the BAC defence to grab Kingswood their first points of the game with only their first attack. Ben Phillips added the simple conversion from in front the posts and Kingswood led 0-7

From the restart, Neil Ward received the ball and crashed forward into the BAC line before a ruck was formed, as I was still writing the previous try down on the pad, I looked up to see a flowing backs move finished off in the corner by Ben Phillips. I am assured that there was some lovely passing between Gareth Pond and Mark Oakley to release Phillips on the wing. The resulting conversion was missed but Kingswood now led 0-12 with only 6 minutes on the clock.

Straight from the restart and BAC were awarded a penalty in Kingswood's half and despite the wind and distance, BAC's Full Back sent a lovely kick over the posts to instantly reduce Kingswood's lead to 3-12

The wind then started to control proceedings with kicks to touch being made difficult and both teams suffered from knock-ons and forward passes. It wasn't until the 22nd minute that the game saw more points. Kingswood were penalised for coming in at the side and No. 15 again kicked for the posts and another good kick went through the uprights to reduce Kingswood's lead once again. 6-12

Kingswood controlled the latter stages of the first half and should really have had 2 more tries but final phase errors stopped them from extending their lead further and the half finished with the score the same.

Half Time: BAC 6-12 Kingswood

Kingswood suffered a bad start to the 2nd half when they conceded two penalties that allowed BAC to setup an attacking move deep in Kingswood's half. Poor tackling from Kingswood led to No. 13 going over and incredibly Kingswood's comfortable lead had been cut to 1 solitary point. 11-12

With the wind now in their advantage, Kingswood started to kick the ball deep into BAC's half to keep them on the back foot.

5 minutes after the BAC try, Paul Allen chased a kick through the BAC defence but he appeared to be tripped, despite this, Dave Vince carried on the run and dived on the ball to score what looked like a perfectly good try, so much so that the kicking tee was ran onto the pitch. The referee decided though that the game should be pulled back to the earlier incident and Kingswood were strangely forced to settle for a scrum 5m out but sadly it came to nothing.

Kingswood only had to wait another 3 minutes though before they extended their lead. A penalty kick to touch secured a lineout for Kingswood in BAC's 22 and it moved with ease towards the try-line before Mark Oakley got the ball down over the line. The excellent conversion kicking from both teams, despite the windy conditions, was highlighted as Ben Phillips slotted over another conversion from a tricky angle and distance and Kingswood had opened up an 8 point gap to lead 11-19

Straight from the restart Kingswood attacked once again and were handed the penalty advantage, it was not needed though as a well executed backs move created space out wide and Paul Bennett celebrated his return to the first team with an excellent try. Ben Phillips once again added the difficult 2 points and Kingswood were looking comfortable with an 11-26 lead

Kingswood then made their first substitution as Anthony Davies made way for Derek James.

Just after the hour mark Kingswood put together a move perfected on the training pitch. A couple of phases of close breakdown rucking inched them forward before the quick ball released the backs and Paul Allen had the space to slide round the side of the Full Back before having an easy jog over the line. Ben Phillips added another 2 points from the boot and Kingswood had put the match out of sight with an 11-33 lead

Steve Trevelyan then came off with a beautiful black eye he received during a tackle and he was replaced by Bram Beecroft

The last 10 minutes of the game was a comical affair with both teams making unforced errors that meant the score did not change. Neil Ward was unlucky not to grab himself a try as Kingswood smashed their way forward and Ward picked up the ball close to the line and flung himself forward to land comfortably in the try area with no BAC hands near the ball. The referee, who was stood on the wrong side of the breakdown, decided that he wouldn't run around to have a look and instead awarded a scrum 5m out.

The frustration for Kingswood continued as twice BAC gave away the ball in their 22 through interceptions but both times Kingswood rushed the passing which inevitably ended with knock-ons which meant they couldn't capitalise further.

The referee finally blew his whistle to end the game and despite an early fight back from BAC, Kingswood ran out comfortable winners. Kingswood now face a visit from Westbury On Severn as they look to keep their unbeaten run going.

Full Time: BAC 11-33 Kingswood