Kenilworth shine despite strong Shipston defence

Match Report – 26th March 2017
The sun was shining and Kenilworth travelled to Shipston. We had a great turnout, despite losing a vital hour of teenage sleep due to the clocks changing!
Kick off at 10.50am and Shipston were straight into Kenilworth territory. Our boys were on the attack straight away and appeared very evenly matched to Kenilworth. The majority of play in the first few minutes was between the 10m lines until a push by Kenilworth deep into Shipston territory was thwarted by George V punting the ball back to halfway.
Another push by Kenilworth was stopped by a fabulous tackle by Charlie Dews but Kenilworth regrouped and scored their first try ten minutes into the game, followed by a solid conversion.
The restart saw great work by Henry and George V putting the ball into Kenilworth territory, but after Shipston win a scrum, Kenilworth turnover the ball and an unstoppable run to the posts sees Kenilworth score again. The conversion takes the score to 0-14.
Another restart and there is lots of play either side of halfway line until Kenilworth push ahead. Again, Shipston defence is strong and two attacks are stopped by great tackling and a push into touch by Will Evans. Kenilworth regain control and run down the wing to score in the corner. The conversion was not successful. 0-19 is the score, but not for long. At the restart Kenilworth win possession and another fast run straight down the field sees another try and conversion just before the half time whistle at 11.15am. Half time score 0-26
Second half kicks off after a five minute break. After just one minute of play, Kenilworth score right in the corner after another long, fast run which none of the Shipston boys could stop.
No conversion, score 0-31.
The restart fails to pass the 10m line. Shipston win the scrum at halfway and Joe Painter pushes, literally, deep into the Kenilworth ground, along with half of Kenilworth hanging off of him! This leads to great work by the Shipston boys to set up an opportunity for George V to score right by the posts. A successful conversion by George Hendy puts score to 7-31 at exactly 11.30am.
The restart goes straight to George Hendy who darts deep into Kenilworth territory. Kenilworth turnover and only great defence by Shipston prevents another try. Plenty of action again happening around the halfway line with Shipston fighting for more possession. Kenilworth put in another long run and score between the posts again. The straightforward conversion take the score to 7-38.
Into the last ten minutes and Shipston turn up the power. They have the same pace and progress as shown at the beginning of the match. George V gets to the line only to have the ball held up. Great team work keeps the attack going but it is matched by Kenilworth at every moment. A last scrum at halfway leads to a kick by Shipston deep into Kenilworth ground but contact puts Ilyas onto the ground in the fiftieth minute and the final whistle blows.

In all, a strong start and finish for Shipston but Kenilworth kept the boys fighting for possession throughout.