Kilburn Cosmos 1st XV vs Saracens Amateurs - 4th Oct

Kilburn Cosmos 24 - Saracens 36

The Kilburn Cosmos 1st XV blew a great opportunity to knock over Herts Middlesex 1 league leaders Saracens Amateurs on Saturday at Tiverton Green. After establishing an 18-0 lead during the first half a lack of fitness and composure on attack lead to the Cosmos being overrun by Saracens in the second half who ended up taking a comfortable 36-24 victory. This leaves Saracens firmly established at the top of the table and confines Kilburn to the bottom three with no wins from three games.
The first half was relatively even with both sides having long periods of possession in the oppositions 22. Both teams were strong and committed on defence but it was Kilburn who was able to make the most of their opportunities. Hooker Declan Magee proved unstoppable close to the line to score Kilburns 1st try after excellent pick and gos by the forward pack took them close to Saracens line. Chris Garvey missed the conversion but soon knocked over a penalty to give Kilburn a handy start. When openside Scott Aitken capitalised on some sloppy lineout work and Saracens not playing to the refs whistle to steal a loose ball and scoot over under the posts for the Cosmos second try, converted by Garvey, it looked like Kilburn could be on the verge of a major upset. Another penalty to Garvey took the score out to 18-0 late in the first half. However some late pressure from Saracens saw them camp close to the Cosmos line and eventually score through the forwards to close the gap to 18-7.
A huge blow to Kilburns chances occurred late in the first half when impressive blindside Mo Taguri took a head knock and had to go off. Already suffering from the absence of regular no 6 Aly Bursey through injury this left Kilburn down on aggressive defenders around the rucks. Skipper Aitken knocked Saracens back all day but lacked allies and this proved a major factor in the second half with Saracens making inroads close to the rucks through Kilburns tiring defence.
Kilburn were full of confidence going into the second half but a sloppy start saw Saracens score almost immediately and the Cosmos heads drop. 2 Kilburn penalties to Garvey and another try to Saracens, from a turnover on the Saracens 22 after a promising Cosmos attack broke down, saw the game tied up at 24 all but with Saracens definitely in the ascendency. Kilburns fitness or lack of was showing with tackles being missed, passes misdirected and balls dropped.
Saracens took full advantage racking up another 2 tries to take the score to 36-24. The final 10 minutes saw Kilburn frantically attacking and they looked like scoring on a number of occasions but excellent scrambling defence by Saracens and a bad pass or wrong option by the Cosmos saw the chances go begging with the final whistle going with the score remaining 36-24.
Kilburn had plenty of opportunities on attack in the second half to take the game but lack of protection for halfback Chris Protherough saw terrible ball coming to fly-half Andy Allan who could do nothing with it but try to secure possession. This was a wasted opportunity as centre Peter Donaldson and wing Hayden Wilson had looked dangerous every time they touched the ball and not getting decent ball to them was a major part in Kilburns downfall.
Lineouts were a problem for Kilburn with Saracens dominating. Any ball won from the lineout was always untidy and offered no attacking platform. The scrum was also a problem with Saracens employing wheeling tactics to disrupt Kilburns possession which was not dealt with by either the referee or the Kilburn forwards.
Saracens backs offered little attacking threat from the set pieces but were brilliant from the counter attack and broken play with their speed, fitness and support play with the Saracens loosies also popping up causing Kilburn no end of trouble.
Once again Ehi Alonge put in an excellent 80 minutes in the front row and locks Ledington and Fenlon were great round the park though Fenlon was not as prominent in the second half after a storming first 40 minutes. In the backs centre Peter Donaldson again stood out on attack and provided a solid midfield with Richey Cunninghame while 1st XV debutante Hayden Wilson looked dangerous but suffered from the lack of decent ball being given to the backs.
Skipper Scott Aitken and Declan Magee were judged joint MVPs with both players having brilliant games and Andy Allan picked up 1 point after a very solid game under a lot of pressure.

Kilburn 24 (D Magee, S Aitken tries, C Garvey 4 penalties, 1 conversion)

Team: H McKenzie, D Magee, E Alonge, P Ledington, J Fenlon, M Taguri, S Aitken(C), T O'Connor, C Protherough, A Allan, H Wilson, R Cunninghame, P Donaldson, C Coane, C Garvey. Reserves: B Zaug, J Trout, R McNaughtan