Kilburn Cosmos 1st XV vs Verulamians - 20th Sep 2008

Kilburn Cosmos 19 - Verulamians 25

The Kilburn Cosmos went down in another close game on Saturday, losing 25-19 to Verulamians at London Colney.
Kilburn paid the price for a lacklustre first half and some indecision shown by a new look backline as they went behind 13-0 near the end of the first half.
A lack of available backs meant usual second row John Fenlon started at inside centre and Richey Cunninghame was rolled out to the wing. The inexperience in the backline was exposed early as a couple of good Verulamian midfield moves broke through and set up excellent field position. Verulamians capitalised on this and had notched up 2 tries and a penalty by the thirty second minute mark.
Kilburn had their chances in the first 30 minutes, camping on the Vs line for a long period but a few poor options meant the pressure went unrewarded. As the half wore on the Cosmos heads started to drop as the heat took its toll and the Cosmos support play, normally a strength of their game, was poor. Ball runners were left unsupported as the forwards struggled with the heat and Vs managed a number of turnovers when the Cosmos had got themselves in promising positions.
Cosmos suffered a blow when No8 Tom O’Connor was forced off with a head knock after 30 minutes but replacement Chris Protherough put his fresh legs to use and re-energised the forward pack. Cunninghame was switched with Fenlon to give a bit more experience to the midfield defence, and this coupled with the loss of the Vs fly half after he had taken a couple of big hits meant the Vs backline proved less of a threat.
The Cosmos finally got on the board in the 35th minute after a couple of excellent runs took Kilburn into the Vs 22. Bursey and Cunninghame then showed their experience to put Fenlon away in the corner and give the Cosmos some hope. The try was unconverted and left the score at 13-5 at which it remained at the halftime whistle.
The Cosmos were still confident they could come back and take the game at halftime and started the second half strongly.
However mistakes gave the Vs field position and Kilburn were forced to defend their line for the first 10 minutes of the half. The Cosmos defended brilliantly, denying the Vs and forcing them back until another mistake gave the Vs a 5 metre scrum.
In what some saw as a harsh decision Verulamians were awarded a penalty try from this scrum which further dented the Cosmos hopes of a comeback. A superb Verulamians scrum drove the Cosmos back from the five metre mark and when eventually the scrum collapsed the ref had no hesitation in running between the posts and signalling a try. The decision was viewed as harsh by many as it was not obvious there was an intentional offence by Kilburn nor had they been repeatedly pulling down the scrum and they definitely hadn’t been given a warning. However there was little doubt that the try would have been scored and little the Cosmos had to grumble about.
Knowing that time was running out the Cosmos finally started to show a bit of urgency and purpose in their attack. They were rewarded for their efforts when Captain Scott Aitken crashed over next to the posts after some excellent lead up work by the forwards.
This good work was undone when a misfield of a kick by Cunninghame gave the Vs field position near the Cosmos 22. The Vs capitalised with some weak defence by the Cosmos loosies allowing the Vs hard running 12 to make a break and set up the try which took the score to 25-12.
The Cosmos weren’t finished though and threw everything at the Vs. After Bursey was denied millimetres short of the line replacement wing Shayne Whyte picked up the loose ball and dove over to close the gap to 25-19, after the conversion by Garvey, with five minutes remaining.
Looking for an unlikely last gasp victory, as they managed in the same fixture last season, a last ditch effort by the Cosmos saw them drive down into the Vs 22. In the last play of the game Shayne Whyte was held up in the corner in going for the try that would have left Garvey with a sideline conversion to win the game.
But in the final analysis the Cosmos were not good enough to take the win. They showed in spurts they could cause some real problems and play good rugby but the key is to produce this rugby for 80 minutes. The set pieces were a problem for the Cosmos with the scrum under real pressure and getting a settled backline on the pitch is another key area if they are to challenge for the league title this year.
Paul Ledington was again excellent in the lineouts and around the field, halfback Liam Macmanus had a good return to rugby after a 10 year break and Chris Garvey had a typically solid and industrious game at fullback.
However Man of the match was judged to be Aly Bursey who put in a tireless performance at No 6, with Captain Scott Aitken picking up 2 points and under utilised centre Peter Donaldson, who made breaks every time he touched the ball 1 point. Donaldson was judged by Verulamians to have been the opposition player of the day.

Kilburn 19 (J Fenlon, S Aitken, S Whyte tries, C Garvey 2 conversions)

Team: R Nunes, D Magee, E Alonge, P Ledington, J Trout, A Bursey, S Aitken(C), T O'Connor, L Macmanus, A Allan, R Cunninghame, J Fenlon, P Donaldson, A Gbinigie, C Garvey. Reserves: P Morgan, C Protherough, S Whyte

Read Verulamians match report(Whytie is a huge winger!!)