RUGBY UNION: KENILWORTH suffered a two-point defeat at home to Moseley Oak with the visitors securing a narrow 25-20 victory at Glasshouse Lane, writes Sophie Freestone.
The opening 20 minutes saw Kenilworth apply some good pressure to the Moseley defence, particularly at the scrum, as they looked to put the first points on the board on Saturday.
That first try of the match eventually went Kenilworth’s way after 23 minutes when athletic flanker Mikkel Andresen jinked through the Moseley defence to score to the left of the posts.
The ball had zig-zagged its way across the pitch before reaching Andresen who shrugged off the defence for the try. Josh Hickman was on target with his conversion attempt to successfully add the extras for a seven-point cushion.
While Moseley’s scrum struggled against Kenilworth’s pack, their line out was in superb form and the visitors levelled the scores thanks to a well worked catch and drive from 5m out. The conversion levelled the scores before another try from close range gave the visitors a 12-7 lead.
Hickman pulled back three points for Kenilworth on the stroke of half-time, as the visitors went into the break trailing by just two points.
The second half saw Kenilworth continue to dominate at scrum time, and their efforts paid off after 50 minutes when back row Bobby Thompson powered over from short range to give his side a well deserved lead.
In windy conditions, Hickman judged the breeze perfectly to slot the extras and give his side a 17-12 advantage with half an hour to play.
Although Kenilworth were commanding at the scrum, errors in open play allowed Moseley to stay within touching distance of the hosts. A successful penalty from in front of the posts closed the gap to two points just minutes after Thompson’s try.
An excellent Hickman penalty from almost half way cancelled out Moseley’s three points, but poorly executed kicks gifted good field position to Moseley and the visitors soon capitalised.
Their powerful openside flanker capped an impressive performance with a try inside the final quarter to level scores, before the successful conversion nudged the visitors into a slim two-point lead.
Moseley Oak then scored a last minute penalty resulting in a five-point victory for the visitors.
Kenilworth continued to push for the decisive score, but Moseley held on to their slender advantage to secure a 25-20 victory.
