Kingswood Battle To Narrow Home Victory

After what has been their most difficult start to a campaign in recent years, Kingswood pulled together as a unit and pulled off an impressive home win against local rivals Bishopston.

A minutes silence was respectfully observed before the game for Lewis’s Dad, Frank Voisey, a kind supporter and sponsor of Kingswood Rugby Club. Our thoughts are with Lewis and his family at this difficult time.

On to the game and the first half was a definitely a half of two halves, as possession and territory fluctuated between the two sides. A mobile front three of Jason Willmott, Dave Vince and Ben Adams, gave Kingswood much more punch and mobility up front, and these hard running yards allowed Kingswood’s Backs some great attacking platforms.

A penalty kick from Bishopston opened the scoring, but they were then reduced to 14 men after persistence breakdown infringements. With half time approaching, Ashley Honeywell, who had a Man Of The Match performance at Fly Half, smashed over the line after a clever break from Scrum Half, Steve Ridgway. Honeywell followed up his try with a conversion to hand Kingswood a 7-3 lead at the break.

The 2nd half was even better from Kingswood. As Bishopston started to berate/guide the referee at every opportunity, his patience wavered and Kingswood capitalised on his annoyance. A great Back’s move from Kingswood led to Joe Jones-Griffiths going over the line, but the referee deemed it was held up. From the resulting 5 metre scrum, Kingswood pummelled the try-line, but eventually it was a miss pass in the Backs from Paul Allen that put Lewis Voisey in the corner for a fitting try. Ashley Honeywell’s kick dropped just short, but Kingswood held a valuable 12-3 lead with 15 minutes remaining.

Kingswood had a chance to extend their lead further 5 minutes later with another penalty kick at goal, but as the attempt from Honeywell dropped short, Bishopston ran the ball back at pace until they were halted by a trip from Prop Ben Adams. This indiscretion resulted in 10 minutes in the bin for Adams and Kingswood were rattled.

Penalty after penalty eventually resulted with Bishopston having a line-out 5 metres from the Kingswood try-line. When Alex Evans’ over enthusiasm conceded another penalty, Bishopston tapped quickly and went for the line. The try was scored and the game would come down to a conversion.

Jason Willmott screamed for the Kingswood players to get behind the ball and all 14 players cavalry charged the difficult conversion attempt. Their efforts were rewarded, as a sloppy attempt dribbled wide of the posts. The referee’s final whistle ensued and Kingswood claimed their 3rd win of the season.

Next week, Kingswood look to grab their first back to back wins as they travel to bottom of the league, Broad Plain. Victory would greatly boost Kingswood’s league position, but the players need to go in focused and playing like they did in this fixture.

Director Of Rugby's Report

Martin Amis famously published a collection of essays entitled “The War Against Cliché” in which he argued the excessive use of certain words and phrases diluted or, at worse, rendered that language dead. However, I feel compelled to incur Mr. Amis’ displeasure by declaring the following.

Rugby is a simple game.

You cannot run without your legs.

Stay calm under pressure.

Defence wins matches.

Manage the referee.

Etc…

I’m sure you can see where I’m going. I think stated (eloquently) in the post-match huddle that, for today only, I couldn’t give a “Rat’s Ass” how we played in terms of style. That worry belongs to Redford. I’m duty bound to see the big picture, and what clinched an incredibly physical game was our togetherness, doing the simple things well and making the right decisions at the right time. It’s no coincidence that calm temperament under pressure was the bedfellow of victory. There I rest my case for Saturday. Now I ask the boys who participated in that game to consciously employ that feel-good factor as the catalyst for the rest of the season. Remember what you did and the result it produced, and do it again.

Train well.

Paul.