Kesteven vs. Tupton (23/03/2019)

Kesteven stretched their winning run to 4 consecutive games after a comfortable victory at Woodnook against Tupton. K’s made 2 changes to the starting XV that won away to Buxton, with Leo Vincent and Tom Price replacing the unavailable Tom Miles and Ben Betts respectively, whilst Freddie Tuilagi made his squad debut as a welcome addition to the bench. The tries came courtesy of Parker, Cox, Whittaker and Sheardown, as well as a score each for the Goodrich brothers, sealing the bonus point victory and consolidating 5th place in the league. Gavin Purvis continued as captain.

It didn’t take long for K’s to move into the lead. Just 1 minute in, a smart kick in behind by Tom Price was followed up by Henry Parker, pressurising the Tupton back three who after failing to deal with the bounce, saw the Kesteven winger sweep up the ball to dot down under the posts for the opening score. Scrum-half Ben Whinney added the straight-forward conversion. K’s soon returned to the Tupton 22 after errors from the away side mounted. A line break from the destructive James Goodrich led to the centre finding brother Cameron who dived over on the right hand side. Whinney converted and just 3 minutes in, K’s opened up a 14-point lead.

A period of Tupton offence followed, but despite coming within metres of the black line, the defence held characteristically firm. Where Tupton couldn’t take their chances, Kesteven could. A wayward pass in midfield was picked up by James Goodrich who ran home for his third try in his last 3 outings. The conversion was added and K’s extended their lead to 21. But Tupton hit back with a score of their own through a strong carry from the inside centre, beating the first line of defence and although being tackled just short of the line, found the Tupton second row who crashed over next to the posts. The conversion was pushed wide.

Kesteven soon replied with a bonus point score. A turnover in midfield gave the backs possession and quick hands released substitute Harry Cox who with his first touch of the ball finished well in the far corner. Whinney’s shot at goal was wide and this would be the last action of a high scoring first half for the home side.

It took a quarter of an hour for the second half to see its first score. Errors crept into the contest as fatigue grew and Tupton competed increasingly in contact, turning the ball over on a number of occasions. It was indeed the away side that opened the second-half scoring. Exploiting the short side, Tupton powered through to score after building the phases. The conversion was wide leaving the score at 26-10.

After a clearing kick from the away outfit, fullback Aaron Whittaker made good use of a lacklustre kick-chase. Using his pace, he rounded the straggling defenders to score on the left hand side. Whinney’s effort for the extra 2 was just wide. Cameron Bibby returned to the field of play from hand injury and Freddie Tuilagi made his 1st XV debut. Arguably the pick of the tries was the penultimate score of the match. Retaining the ball well in midfield, Kesteven managed to find front-rower Purvis and Sheardown in the wide channel. A sublime ‘out the back’ offload from the former found his fellow prop who ran through to score on the right. Whinney struck his fourth conversion of the afternoon, and despite a late converted Tupton score, K’s took the spoils. Kesteven 38, Tupton 17.

Kesteven XV

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

9. Ben Whinney
10. Adam Draper
11. Henry Parker
12. Tom Price
13. James Goodrich
14. Leo Vincent
15. Aaron Whittaker

16. Fereti Freddie Tuilagi
17. Cameron Bibby
18. Harry Cox

Kesteven 1st XV’s next fixture is on the 30th, away to Mansfield.