The last time these two teams played each other, Kingswood ran out comfortable 46-0 winners, but Kingswood knew that, 2 years on, this was not going to be the same Cheltenham Saracens team that they used to beat so comfortably. In fact, Cheltenham came into this game sitting in 4th place, whilst Kingswood were still languishing dangerously close to the bottom of the table after last weeks mauling at the hands of Brockworth.

With the weather conditions making for a great leveller, it was fortunate for Kingswood that their 3 heaviest players missing from last weeks pack were all back. Mike and Mark Oakley rejoined Mike Flook in the front row and Damien Crosswell slipped in the 2nd row. With no regular No. 8 available, Alex Green slipped on the shirt. In the Backs, there was a 1st XV debut for Dan McLeod. With Paul Allen still out, Ashley Honeywell started in the Centre with James Willmott.

What followed was a strange game in which Cheltenham Saracens held most of the territory in the 1st half (in fact at one stage I forgot what our clubhouse looked like because I was looking right so much) but they didn’t trouble the Kingswood line once due to an excellent wall defence. In a reverse of fortune, Kingswood only had 1 real scoring opportunity in the first half and Mike Oakley took the opportunity with open arms as he crashed over the line from an excellently worked lineout. Just before half time, Kingswood were reduced to 14 men as Mike Flook was harshly sent to the bin for a supposed dangerous tackle. You will see from the video later that this certainly wasn’t the case.

In the 2nd half, Kingswood came into the game a bit more and actually had some great counter attacking runs thanks to Chris Phillips and James Willmott, however, with the pitch now completely churned up, on both occasions, the legs just couldn’t get enough grip to break away from the Cheltenham defence and both attacks were snuffed out.

Cheltenham were still struggling to threaten the Kingswood try line, due in part to the poor handling of their Fly-Half who spilt quite a bit of ball to aid Kingswood in clearing their lines. Cheltenham did however pull 3 points back from a penalty, with made for a nervy ending to the game. 5-3.

With the final whistle fast approaching, Kingswood then put together their best play of the game, with a combination of Backs running and slow Forward ball. Several crash balls led to Ben Phillips sending a box kick over the top of the defence. Dean Stephens gave chase and despite the boggy ground, the ball bounced straight into his hands before he crashed over the line. Kingswood knew that this was enough to secure the victory and closed up shop for the remaining few minutes and they held out for the victory.

So a winning end to 2011 for Kingswood, but with two important home games in January, Kingswood need to continue this winning mentality if they wish to push further on up the table.

Final Score: Kingswood 10 – 3 Cheltenham Saracens (Video to follow this week)