Kidderminster knew they were in for a difficult afternoon at runaway leaders Whitchurch, who have a 100% record this season in both league and cup, but their task was made even more difficult by a lengthy list of unavailable players which meant that they were able to field only two of the eight forwards who had made such an impact against Spartans two weeks ago and it was no real surprise that they suffered their heaviest defeat of the season.
They made the worst possible start,falling behind with barely a minute on the clock as Whitchurch used lineout possession fifteen metres out to slice through their midfield and outside centre Henry Hockenhull dotted down under the posts for the opening try,simply converted by winger Tom Skone.
KC’s then lost their first two lineouts.The first was pinched by Whitchurch and the second throw was not straight,resulting in the first scrum of the afternoon which proved ominous as Kidder’s makeshift pack was shoved all the way back from their ten metre line to the 22 but when the home side spread the ball a wild pass into touch came to the visitors rescue.For once they were just about able to secure their lineout but could make no distance with the clearance kick and were under constant early pressure.It took a fine tackle by fullback Chris May-Miller,making a welcome return after his dreadful injury three months ago,to prevent another likely try but Kidder’s forwards then had to endure a torrid few minutes as,awarded a string of penalties,Whitchurch unsurprisingly opted for six successive scrums,beginning fifteen metres from the line until KC’s could avoid the inevitable no longer and the hosts’ No 8 Jack Furnival crashed over for their second try,again improved by Skone,for a 14-0 lead with a quarter of an hour played.
The re-start was knocked on by Whitchurch,so Kidder had the put in at a scrum for the first time but the result was the same as their pack disintergrated and the Shropshire side were awarded a penalty which they kicked to touch on the visitors’ ten metre line.From the lineout the home side moved the ball left and then right before a pass back inside sent Skone over for a third try which this time he was unable to convert from wide out.
There were still twenty minutes of the half remaining and KC’s were in danger of being overrun but to their credit they steadied the ship and enjoyed a decent ten minute spell of possession and territory,putting Whitchurch on the back foot for the first time and,importantly,they also managed to stabilise their scrum to such an extent that when awarded a number of penalties in the hosts’ 22 they actually opted for the set piece themselves with some measure of success.Their cause was helped when Furnival was somewhat unexpectedly shown a yellow card but they were unable to breach a resilient defence and the interval arrived with them still trailing 19-0.
Kidder did not make the best of starts to the second period as their kick off did not go ten metres and within four minutes they conceded again when Whitchurch drove over from a five metre lineout with flanker George Cope getting the touchdown and Skone again converting.Three minutes later KC’s lineout was found out yet again as eight metres from their own line the ball was overthrown and the hosts made them pay with a try by fullback Matt Davies which extended their advantage to 31-0.
It was now damage limitation for the visitors and they doggedly held out for a further fifteen minutes when Whitchurch set up another lineout drive which some of the backs joined and Davies broke from the fringe to cross for his second try with the conversion this time striking the near upright.
Gutsy Kidder stuck to their task,trying to run penalties but unable to make much headway until back row Will Roff intercepted a reckless Whitchurch pass to give KC’s a whiff of a try scoring chance for the first time but although Roff was able to find some support the threat was snuffed out and with a little over ten minutes remaining prop Ian Gillespie led a breakout by the home side which was finished off by Hockenhull for another converted try.
Three minutes from time Davies missed out on a hat-trick when he dropped the ball with the line at his mercy but just before the final whistle blindside Jake Rees drove over from a Whitchurch scrum at the right corner and replacement Ryan Horton’s excellent conversion brought up the fifty points.
This was a result which KC’s will just have to take on the chin and hopefully with no game next week they will have a larger and stronger squad to select from when they travel to Leek on 17th February - KO 2.15 pm.