South blown off course at Kenilworth

Welcome to the topsy turvy world that is Midlands 1 rugby. Take out Broadstreet as Champions in waiting, they still have to visit South, and Bedford Athletic as relegation candidates all the other sides seem capable of beating each other and shock results abound.
South could have easily sprung a surprise at Kenilworth actually being in the lead on the hour mark, with the eventual nine point margin flattering the home side. Like so many of our matches this season, strong winds have affected the balance and style of the game. To be fair, Kenilworth probably handled the conditions better in the last quarter to close out the game and continue their push for a play off spot.
South started poorly, which tends to be the pattern in away games, as Kenilworth's winger Andy Whitehall collected a fortunate bounce to score wide out as early as the first minute.South's back three defenders let the ball bounce on the hardish surface, failed to put in the first up tackle and paid the penalty. Elliott Brown failed to convert. He did, however, add a penalty five minutes later to extend Kenilworth's lead to eight points. All this when playing against the strong wind!
South actually awoke from their slumber and started to take the game to the home side making inroads into home territory. South were rewarded as the K's pack were forced to give away penalties on a regular basis within range of the posts. Although Mark Lord had his first attempt blown wide he was on target with 3 others and South took the lead. Using the wind Lord's out of hand kicking was good and forced K's back into their own 22 on regular occasions. All the good work, however, was undone as Doug Neagle the young referee, who is obviously being fast tracked to greater things (hence the video crew), took exception to a Jim Matthews intervention and sin binned him for ten minutes. During this period K's retook the lead with an unconverted try by Elliott Brown.

Half Time 13-9 down but game still on!

Again, this time against the strong wind, South started poorly with Tom Armstong - apparently a failed prop - being sinbinned for a defensive indescretion. Down to 13 men South kept the ball close with Mike March, Chris Bale and Jim Matthews making the hard yards and progressing through a number of phases to threaten the home line. Moving the ball wide Rich Lang was persistant and surged into the corner and scored an excellent try. Into the eye of a gale, Lord was just short with the conversion although South were now in the lead for the second time in the game 13-14. South really had the bit between their teeth and with a full complement of players once again kept the pressure on Kenilworth. However, silly handling and offloading mistakes, mainly due to the conditions, resulted in South losing possession and being forced to retreat via long kicks into their 22 metre area. From one of those wind assisted threats Kenilworth scored via Andrew McGuire wide on the left. Brown converted and added another penalty soon after.
With South continuing to take the game back to the home side a series of penalties were awarded resulting in home flanker Francis Nock finally being binned for interference on the ground. South opted for the scrum to exploit Kenilworth's lack of numbers in the pack and proceeded to push Kenilworth back just short of their line. If the surge had continued South would have been rewarded with a push over try, but inexplicably a No 8 pickup was called and the chance like many others for South in this game was gone.
Mike Mark for Andy Harris and Ash Stevens for Kris McFredries were introduced into the game late on but Kenilworth hung on. What might have been!

A great deal of positives to report from this game bearing in mind Kenilworth had only lost once at home all season. If the silly mistakes can be ironed out South will score far more tries than has been evident so far this season. South make good ground in close quarter exchanges, but need to look after the ball and above all make the correct decisions in pressure situations.

Team: Lang, Thomas, Armstrong, Collins, Nicholson, Lord, McFredries (Stevens), Bale, Cartwright, March (c), Matthews,Badham, James, Green, Harris (Mark).

Unused replacement: Sands.

Man of the Match: Never say die Mike March.

Mtach report:Phil Lord