Rain & Red Card Conspire To Give Kingswood Frustrating Afternoon Victory

Kingswood faced Westbury On Severn this week as the home side looked to continue their unbeaten run. Only a few minor injuries for Kingswood to contend with, as Mike Oakley and Ian Kirley were still unavailable. Despite these absentees, Kingswood started with a near full strength team and started with a bench with a combined age of 105 as Dave Vince, James Thorne and Derek James stood by ready to be called upon.

It was not the best weather for a game of rugby with persistent rain and strong winds throughout the game which was going to make it that little bit more tricky.

Kingswood nearly fell behind with only 3 minutes on the clock as Adam Morris was adjudged to have been offside from Dean Stephen's downfield kick, fortunately Westbury's No. 10 put the ball wide.

There was then a huge setback for Kingswood as Neil Ward was given a straight red card for violent conduct and Kingswood now faced a full 67 minutes with only 14 men.

Kingswood controlled proceedings and played the majority of the game in Westbury's half but it was fair to say that they were suffering an unfair penalty count against them and as a result neither side could generate any point scoring opportunities and the first half amazingly finished 0-0

Half Time: Kingswood 0-0 Westbury-On-Severn

At half time Kingswood made their first substitution as Dave Vince came on for an injured Ben Phillips.

Kingswood had their first real points scoring opportunity of the game when on 47 minutes they were awarded a penalty in front the posts which Dave Vince elected to take. Somehow Vince managed a spectacular miss to put the ball low and wide and the scores stayed the same.

With Kingswood still suffering from an unbelievably high penalty count it wasn't until the hour mark that the first points of the game were scored. With Kingswood still holding the territory, they placed Westbury on the back foot and an attempted clearance from their 22 failed to make any ground and Gareth Pond was on hand to secure the high ball in the centre of the park. A quick ball to Paul Allen allowed Kingswood's Captain to use his quick pace to break the Westbury defensive line and create space before he fed the ball wide to Brad Whiston, whose pace ensured he would never be caught and he dived over line to grab Kingswood's first try. Dean Stephens was unable to add the 2 extra points but Kingswood finally held the lead and it looked as though it was theirs to keep. 5-0

With the rain still pouring and penalties being awarded every 3 minutes, the game died a death and it didn't look as though any more points were coming. That was until the 80th minute when a Kingswood scrum was secured 10m out and Mark McGarrigle broke with the ball and put in a strong run despite numerous players hanging off of him. McGarrigle made it to the line and placed the ball on the post protector, not at the base of it, but half way up. Kingswood should have been surprised at the try being awarded but none of the decisions were coming as shocks anymore and Kingswood were awarded the try. McGarrigle took the drop kick but put the ball wide. 10-0

The referee thankfully bought the game to an end soon after and despite the score-line, Kingswood played well when they were allowed to and secured another win in the league.

Full Time: Kingswood 10-0 Westbury-O-S