So the end of another league season was sadly upon us as Kingswood travelled north to Cheltenham Saracens. Kingswood needed victory to secure 3rd spot in the league for a 2nd year running since gaining promotion at the end of the 05/06 season. Kingswood welcomed back Rob Lamb, who started on the bench. A Ben Phillips injury ruled him out of the game and so Dave Vince started at Scrum Half.

Kingswood started well and dominated the opening proceedings as the forwards worked hard to gain the territorial advantage. A couple of penalties to Kingswood allowed them to secure a lineout deep in the Saracens half and after a excellent lineout move, a rolling maul was formed and Mark Oakley reacted quickly to a loose ball dropping out the back of the maul to get the ball down over the line to give Kingswood the lead with only 5 minutes on the clock. Ian Kirley's conversion was unsuccessful but Kingswood had the all important first try. 0-5

7 minutes later and Cheltenham Saracens were still being refused entry into Kingswood's half of the pitch which gave Kingswood an excellent advantage. An attacking move from Kingswood saw the ball land in the arms of Anthony Davies who used his jaw dropping speed and strength to resist several attempted tackles and power towards the try-line. Captain Paul Allen drove forward in support and the pair crashed over the line but the referee deemed the ball was held up and sadly Kingswood could not capitalise on the chance.

With the half hour mark approaching, Kingswood were still firmly in control of the game and creating all the point scoring chances. Kingswood's next chance came from a rolling maul just inside the Saracens half. Scrum Half Dave Vince removed the ball from the maul and popped it inside to Stan Bailey who in turn fed the ball to Fly Half, Dean Stephens. Stephens spotted a gap behind the Saracens defence and chipped a cheeky little kick over the top. A lovely bounce meant the ball landed nicely into the hands of the advancing Paul Allen who made his way to the line and stretched out an arm mid-tackle to ground the ball over the line for Kingswood. Ian Kirley added the extra points from in front the posts and Kingswood were now looking comfortable at 0-12

With the game entering the final few minutes of the first half, Kingswood then suffered a setback against the run of play that allowed Saracens back into the game. Mark McGarrigle powered forward for Kingswood and looked like he was going to grab Kingswood's third try but he was thwarted by an excellent cover tackle and Kingswood were penalised for holding on. The kick downfield from Saracens didn't make touch and it was secured by Ian Kirley. Kirley ran the ball in-field before feeding the ball to Paul Allen who had little time to react as he was tackled by the Saracens forwards. With some of the Kingswood forwards still trying to track back to an onside position, the ball was turned over and Saracens No. 15 picked up the loose ball and ran in unchallenged across the line to pull back 5 points for Saracens. 5-12

Half Time: Cheltenham Saracens 5-12 Kingswood

Kingswood made one change at half time with Dave Vince coming off and Derek James coming on.

After the setback before half time, Kingswood set out to extend their lead at the start of the 2nd half and all was going well as another strong rolling maul made its way towards the Saracens 22. Strangely though, Neil Ward dropped to the floor during the march and it was unclear what had happened. It later turned out that Alex Green, upon joining the maul, had bent Ward's arm back which had cracked the bone at the base of his elbow. This brought Ward's impressive game to an end and Kingswood were forced into another substitution as Rob Lamb came on in his place.

There was then further setback for Kingswood when a quickly tapped penalty from Saracens was ran downfield and the referee shouted that the Kingswood players nearby were not allowed to challenge the player as they had not been the required 10 metres back. Rob Lamb was the next available player in line to make the tackle and made the challenge on the advancing forward. The referee decided though that he too was not back the required distance and Rob Lamb was shown a yellow card, minutes after joining the game.

Kingswood then began to suffer a high penalty count which was allowing Saracens to take the ball forward and this meant the game developed into an excellent forwards battle, but with the extra man, Saracens were seeing the benefit in the scrums and played out the next 10 minutes in Kingswood's 22.

Kingswood were managing to absorb the Saracens pressure well though and because of this, there was very little in the way of points scoring action for the remainder of the game. That was until the 75th minute when Kingswood carried the ball swiftly into the Saracens half before being awarded a penalty. A lineout was secured and a rolling formed before it was collapsed and a ruck formed. A quick backs move saw the ball fall to Paul Allen whose trademark sidestep sliced open the Saracens defence and he crossed line to grab Kingswood's 3rd try and his 18th try of the season to stroll to the accolade of Club Top Try Scorer. Ian Kirley added the two points and Kingswood had sewn up the game. 5-19

The game ended soon after and the result meant that it was another "always a bridesmaid, never a bride" season again for Kingswood but two 3rd place finishes since being promoted should not be sniffed at, especially when you consider that the two promoted clubs from last year have returned straight back to Gloucester 3. Kingswood can also take some consolation from the fact that the two clubs promoted out of Gloucester 2 this season, were both defeated on their visits to the Big K.

Well done to everyone who has contributed to another impressive season this year, hopefully next season we can get that promotion we most certainly deserve.

Until next season folks

Full Time: Cheltenham Saracens 5-19 Kingswood