Cotham Park. Undefeated in the league at home since 14th Feb 2009 and now standing in the way of Kingswood’s unbeaten season challenge. Kingswood’s Backs lined up as they finished against Tetbury with Ben Phillips, Dean Stephens, James Willmott, Paul Allen, Gareth Pond, Anthony Davies and Joe Jones-Griffiths filling shirts 9-15. Ian Kirley was back, but started on the bench. Kingswood’s Forwards were missing Nick Coe and Matthew Perriman, but welcomed back Dave Vince. Rob Lamb, Neil Ward, Damien Crosswell, Stan Bailey, Alex Green, Dave Tomlin and Vince Murrell were all fit and ready.

Kingswood started off playing from left to right (or possibly right to left, depending on what side of the pitch you were stood on). A few early scrummages appeared to show that Kingswood would be able to hold their own, and so hopefully, Vince Murrell at No. 8 should have a lot of clean ball to work with.

With 7 minutes of the game gone, Kingswood found themselves with the put-in at an aforementioned scrum just inside the Cotham Park 22. A solid scrum saw Vince Murrell break down the open-side before offloading to a full speed Paul Allen who powered towards, and finally across, the try-line with his attempted tackler still in tow. Fortunately I had the foresight to stand behind the posts so the video of this try is available to watch in the videos and photos section. Ben Phillips slotted home the conversion and Kingswood led 0-7.

5 minutes later and there then followed the most shocking display of tackling from Kingswood that I have had the misfortune of seeing all season. An innocuous Backs move from Cotham Park eventually saw the ball land in the hands of their Winger, who, after skipping past a half hearted challenge near the touch line, stepped back in field and proceeded to skip past 4 more challenges before coolly running the ball over the line. A great try for Cotham, but for Kingswood, it was one that was highly avoidable. The conversion attempt was pulled to the left, so Kingswood still held the lead, but a very slender one. 5-7.

Rattled by the score, Kingswood went straight up the other end to try and get their lead back to what it was, and they almost achieved it, but some lovely work between the Forwards and Backs agonisingly ended with the ball being knocked over the line. Kingswood kept the pressure on and eventually, after 25 minutes, they forged further ahead with a Ben Phillips penalty. 5-10.

2 minutes later, Kingswood were forced into an early substitution as an injured Anthony Davies came off to be replaced by Ian Kirley on the wing.

Just after the half hour mark, Kingswood continued to make their pressure count as Ben Phillips slotted home another penalty kick to put Kingswood up by 8 points. 5-13.

With 4 minutes of normal time remaining in the half, Kingswood then suddenly took the game by the scruff of the neck, with 7 minutes of devastating rugby. A Cotham Park scrum in the Kingswood half saw possession turned over to Kingswood and, quick as a flash, the ball was spread to the Backs to setup a counter attack. Paul Allen sliced open the off guard defence before breaking clear into the Cotham Park 22. Allen had Dean Stephens in support to his left and just has Stephens screamed “Use me then!” Allen coolly popped the ball in the other direction to an unmarked Ian Kirley who ran the ball home and under the posts after just 9 minutes of being on the pitch. Ben Phillips slotted home the conversion and Kingswood were now 5-20 up.

Less than a minute later and Dean Stephens managed to block a Cotham Park clearance and the ball scrambled towards the line and incredibly Ian Kirley was on hand to try and get the ball down, but just like earlier, the ball was knocked over the line and Cotham Park had escaped, for now.

With the 40 minutes up, a Kingswood scrum 5 metres from the Cotham try-line was taken blind by Vince Murrell who then popped to Ben Phillips which created an overlap that allowed Phillips to put Ian Kirley away in the corner for his 2nd in 4 minutes. The video of this try is also online. Ben Phillips wasn’t able to add the extras but Kingswood had bagged another vital try before half-time. 5-25.

Incredibly there was even time for one more as Cotham Park found themselves on the end of a devastating rolling maul. A Kingswood lineout just inside the Cotham Park 22 was secured by Dave Tomlin and a maul formed. The Kingswood players set themselves before powering up the field. Cotham had no answer to the maul as they tried in vain to halt its progress. The maul finally made it to the line and with ball in hand, Vince Murrell dropped over the line to bag his first try for the club since rejoining from Clifton. A video of this try is also online and well worth a watch. Ben Phillips’ touchline conversion fell just short of the uprights but Kingswood had gone from a nervy start into a dominating end of the first half. 5-30.

Half Time: Cotham Park 5 – 30 Kingswood

Despite the flurry of activity over the Cotham try-line late in the 1st half, the 2nd half was sadly not the spectacle that the Kingswood supporters had expected. Two substitutions and a missed penalty kick from Ben Phillips were incredibly the only highlights of a stuttering 2nd 35 minutes. The substitutions being Alex Green and Dave Tomlin off with Stan Bailey and Dave Vince coming on.

In fairness to Cotham Park, they managed to play the majority of the 2nd half rugby in Kingswood territory, but the game wasn’t helped by numerous injuries which meant there was hardly any fluidity to the game. Despite the majority of the possession, the score line was rarely troubled by Cotham and with little over 12 minutes remaining, it was increasingly clear that Kingswood had secured their 18th league win of the season.

Just when it seemed that the game was going to amble to a rather disappointing end, Kingswood then had a repeat of the 1st half as they raced clear with another impressive 7 minutes of rugby. Dean Stephens and Paul Allen combined well to give Allen the opportunity to slice open the Cotham defence once again before he offloaded to Mark Oakley in support who powered over the line the only way he knew how, hard. Ben Phillips added the extra 2 points and Kingswood had increased their lead to 5-37.

3 minutes into injury time and a scrum to Kingswood 5 metres out was secured and with the Cotham Forwards now finally feeling the strain, the Kingswood pack shoved them back over the try-line and Vince Murrell was on hand to get the ball down for his 2nd and Kingswood’s 6th try. Ben Phillips missed the resulting conversion. 5-42.

With Kingswood tails up and Cotham heads down, there was amazingly still time for more. Ian Kirley secured a deep downfield kick and ran the ball back into to the Cotham Park half. The ball was given to Paul Allen who exploited some space before carrying the ball into the Cotham 22. The ball was recycled and quickly spun out to Steve Trevelyan before he in turn released Ian Kirley, who finished off the move that he himself had started. Ben Phillips missed the conversion. Nonetheless, the referee blew the final whistle and Kingswood had dealt a crushing blow to Cotham Park. 5-47.

Apart from setting up a cracking tie between St. Brendan’s and Cotham Park to see who can grab that illusive 2nd place promotion space, this result also means that only two teams now stand in the way of Kingswood securing the much wanted ‘undefeated’ accolade. Greyhounds and Old Elizabethans.

Next week, Kingswood finally have a break from league action and a chance to rest the bruised and broken as they are visited by Avonvale, for what should hopefully be an enjoyable sunny day friendly.

Till next week…

Final Score: Cotham Park 5 – 47 Kingswood