Despite showing great commitment and some outstanding defence KC’s were unable to dent the perfect record of visitors Moseley Oak who, with a squad containing players whose honours range from England and the Premiership through to North Midlands, must surely be one of the strongest sides to have played at this level and after their eighth bonus point win out of eight the Birmingham side remain at the top of Mids 2 West (N).

Moseley began the game at pace,moving the ball wide with quick hands and they took the lead after seven minutes with a simple penalty in front of the posts by flyhalf and captain Ollie Thomas,one of their three player coaches on the field. The visitors continued to monopolise possession and territory and Kidder were having to work very hard on the back foot to keep them at bay.Having almost conceded when Oak got over the whitewash but knocked on in the process,two minutes later the home side were breached when Moseley spread the ball from one side of the pitch to the other and back again to stretch the defence and create space for second row Duncan White to touch down and Thomas’s conversion extended the lead to 10-0.

After twenty three minutes a promising KC’s move posed an attacking threat for the first time but the ball was lost forward and on the half hour mark they fell further behind when Oak’s centre Paul Cox,another player coach,cut through for their third try. Kidder had not yet had any sort of scoring opportunity but following a rare mistake when Moseley kicked directly into touch from outside their 22 the home side ran the resulting lineout possession and a beautifully timed pass by fullback Andy McLellan to flyhalf George Morgan put the No 10 into space but with the tryline beckoning he hesitated momentarily and then attempted a floated pass to winger Josh Winfield which did not quite go to hand and the chance was gone.

Moseley’s power,excellent ball retention and expertly drilled lineout driving mauls,which apparently have already brought them twenty two tries this season,kept KC’s fully occupied for the remainder of the half and they did well to reach the interval trailing by only fifteen points. Four minutes into the second period Moseley’s forwards got over the line but McLellan did brilliantly to get underneath the ball carrier and prevent the try.The reprieve was,however,shortlived as just two minutes later White ploughed over for his second try,again converted by Thomas.

The one area where Kidder were enjoying some success was the set scrums,including a couple of strikes against the head,and they prevented further damage when they were able to wheel a Moseley five metre scrum to reverse the put in and clear the danger.This produced a good little spell for the home side midway through the half but even though the visitors were reduced to fourteen men when replacement Josh Murphy was shown yellow they were still able to put more points on the board with a try by prop Simon Homer at the left corner and then,when restored to full strength,another by centre James Hussey.

Nonetheless,to their credit KC’s continued to compete for the entire eighty minutes and with the last play of the match George Morgan stabbed an astute grubber kick through Moseley’s defence and with a terrific turn of pace won the foot race to dab down under the posts for a deserved consolation try.Club captain Chris Pinner,making a welcome return to the side after breaking his hand in the first league match of the season,duly converted and Kidder were able to leave the field with their heads held high.

Kidderminster Carolians RFC

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