Rolls Royce vs. Kesteven (05/01/2019)

Kesteven’s first contest of 2019 ended in defeat at the hands of Derbyshire side Rolls-Royce. Although scores from fly-half Adam Draper and number eight Tom Webster looked promising, K’s weren’t of the clinical nature required to compete with an agile Rolls-Royce. Winger Henry Parker made his Kesteven 1st XV debut and Gavin Purvis captained the side.

In the early stages, both outfits had short spells with ball in hand and looked threatening in attack. Royce missed an early penalty, but quickly returned to the K’s 22 in search of the first score. Missed tackles in midfield allowed the home side to dive over with the conversion added. A short while afterwards, scrum-half Ben Whinney struck a penalty just wide of the uprights, but like the hosts, K’s moved towards the opposition red zone. The penalty count against Rolls-Royce rose and were fortunate not to lose a man to the bin, but still they defended resiliently. The home side then won the penalty as K’s passed up the golden opportunity to make their mark on the scoreboard.

Despite looking threatening at times, K’s failed to utilise space out wide to really capitalise on Royce’s narrow defence. Another lapse in concentration allowed Rolls-Royce to move to within touching distance of the K’s line. At first, the black defence held firm but after a number of phases, the home side crossed over through their inside centre. The conversion was added to take the score to 14-0 at half time.

K’s were aware of the task in front of them in the second half and got to work instantly. A knock on from the restart gave K’s field position and from there, the men in black dominated at scrum time and after a series of strong drives, the last of which led number eight Tom Webster to the line and he dotted down under the posts. Draper added the extras with Whinney substituted and K’s moved back within a converted score.

K’s ventured back into the Royce 22, and a sniping Draper burrowed his way over after dummying past the rushing defence. His kick was off target but Kesteven were in the ascendancy. But back came Rolls-Royce, trucking their way up field, after Whinney and Webster were replaced by Martyn Parker and Chris Warden. Yet more weak defence from K’s gifted the home side their third of the day, and the fourth came in similar fashion, all but ending Kesteven’s hopes of a second half comeback. Despite a yellow card late on, the Royce fly-half kicked superbly and added all extras.

K’s weren’t stifled with a lack of opportunity. Several breaks, notably from Dan Turner, James Goodrich and Aaron Whittaker weren’t finished off with the outcome Kesteven needed. Late on, K’s had a late chance when the ball made its way out wide but the last pass to winger Harry Cox couldn’t quite stick, summing up Kesteven’s efforts for the day. Rolls-Royce 28, Kesteven 12.

Kesteven’s next fixture is at home in a local derby vs rivals, Sleaford, 14:15 KO.

Kesteven XV

1. Robert Sheardown
2. Xanti Xipu
3. Gavin Purvis (c)
4. Will Pert
5. Olie Hanson
6. Cameron Goodrich
7. Richard Armstrong
8. Tom Webster

9. Ben Whinney
10. Adam Draper
11. Henry Parker
12. James Goodrich
13. Dan Turner
14. Harry Cox
15. Aaron Whittaker

16. Chris Warden
17. Martyn Parker