KENILWORTH returned to winning ways on Saturday with a well deserved 29-18 victory over Crewe and Nantwich in the Midlands 1 West division, reports Sophie Freestone.
Despite a poor kick off by the visitors, it was Crewe who were the first on the scoreboard with a try after just five minutes.
The next 15 minutes of play saw both sides have opportunities to attack, with Kenilworth making the most of their opportunities on 21 minutes.
A knock on by Crewe from a 5-metre lineout gave Kenilworth an excellent attacking platform with a 5-metre scrum and they made no mistake, with scrum half Gaz Renowden breaking through to score the home side’s first try of the afternoon. Josh Hickman was on target with the conversion to give his side a 7-5 lead.
Having just gone ahead for the first time in the match, Kenilworth were soon trailing by a point after Kalum Goodfellow was yellow carded for a high tackle and Crewe opted to take the three points.
With Goodfellow’s sin bin approaching its conclusion, Kenilworth put themselves in a great attacking position despite being a man down and Renowden was on the score sheet after he charged down a clearance kick on the left wing for an easy run in to put the hosts 12-8 in front.
With the final forty underway, it wasn’t long before Kenilworth extended their lead. A great flowing move from the back line saw the ball travel the length of the pitch before reaching full back Jamie Mapletoft who scored under the posts and Hickman adding the extras to give the home side a 19-8 lead on 45 minutes.
Crewe were soon back on the attack however, and were rewarded for their efforts with a try in the corner on 51 minutes.
After a period of the match which once again saw both sides have attacking opportunities, it was Kenilworth who were back on the score sheet. Some great interplay between winger Joe Jepps and Mapletoft in the right corner eventually saw Jepps cross the whitewash to extend the home side’s lead and earn an important bonus point.
With the match entering its final minutes Kenilworth were once again down to 14 men, with prop Nick Collett yellow carded for foul play, resulting in uncontested scrums for the remainder of the match.
With a one man advantage, Crewe closed the gap on the scoreboard to just six points with just four minutes remaining to ensure a nervous finish for all at Glasshouse Lane.
But despite playing with a man down, Kenilworth secured victory thanks to a superb solo effort from flanker Mikkel Andresen with three minutes to play.
