Young KC's feel the heat away to Leek

KIDDERMINSTER Carolians were again forced to send a young and inexperienced team for an away clash against a well-drilled Leek side.

KCs got off to a poor start, losing their first lineout and conceding two penalties which enabled the hosts to gain ground. Lineout drive pressure resulted in a yellow card for Ben Turner and at the third time of asking the Moorlanders forwards successfully drove over with Jacob Bainbridge touching down to put 14-man Kidderminster behind after six minutes. After a further six minutes Kidder were pushed off their own ball at the first scrum of the afternoon and following a number of Leek phases their scrum-half Ollie Drew darted under the posts from a ruck five metres out and fly-half Sam Hunt converted.

Kidderminster attacked with a penalty from Chris Pinner to the hosts' 22 but the throw was lost and Leek regained the momentum. Centre Gary McDermott sent a high crossfield kick to the right corner which was collected by Kiniviliame Bulitautini who had the simplest of tasks to score a third try, well converted by Hunt from wide out. Bulitautini was denied a second try from a McDermott kick after being caught offside but Leek were soon on the attack again.

An attack from Pinner and winger Arthur Morgan broke down Leek’s Matt Leadingham twisted and turned past a string of tackles before sprinting in for the bonus point try, again improved by Hunt. Kidder made a spirited finish to the first forty minutes, after winning their first lineout with a short throw they were held up over the line.

A quickly taken tap penalty in front of the posts set up a ruck which started a move for Matt Jones to force his way over for a try which Pinner converted with the last kick of the half. After the restart KCs began to achieve parity in the set pieces and they enjoyed bright moments with ball in hand, fullback Chris May-Miller looked lively running from deep.

Despite their lead Leek began to feel the heat and on 70 minutes Kidder cut the gap just after the host's lock Luke Harden had been yellow carded at a ruck.A Leek clearance kick was fielded by Pinner under pressure, he offloaded to May-Miller who in turn released Morgan. The winger then kicked ahead into the in goal area and comfortably won the foot race for a try which was converted by Pinner to reduce the arrears to 26-14.

Leek were stung into action and put pressure on KCs but it seemed possible the visitors could keep a clean sheet in the second half. With only four minutes remaining the Moorlanders' Tom Scragg took the ball at pace to set up a ruck deep in Kidder’s 22 and from the next phase Hunt found a gaping hole to run in unopposed for a fifth try which he converted himself.

Straight from the re-start Leek cut loose again and a flowing handling move was finished by Bainbridge for his second try, once more improved by Hunt to bring proceedings to a close with a final score of Leek 40 -14 KCs.

KCs host Ludlow on Saturday March 6 (kick-off 2.15pm).