In a sad note Lord James Thorpe, esq. announced his retirement(for the 3rd time) after Saturdays game after injuring his troublesome knee playing touch in the warmup and then aggravating a neck injury during the game.
Thorpey is one of the longest serving clubmen for the Cosmos and has been an excellent wing/centre/fullback with a great tryscoring record.
Hopefully he will spend his Saturdays quaffing gin on the sidelines of DS Park and cheering on his teammates rather than in the Thorpe Empire corporate box at Sixways.
We look forward to the retirement/engagement party at Thorpe Manor in the near future
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Kilburn Cosmos 1st XV vs Old Actonians - 11th Oct 2008
Kilburn Cosmos 14 - Old Actonians 17
The Kilburn Cosmos 1st XV continued their frustrating season with another close loss to a team that was there for the taking in a narrow 17-14 away defeat to Old Actonians on Saturday.
Kilburns exasperating ability to let teams back into the game and failure to take advantage of their strengths were on show once again with an early 7-0 lead to the Cosmos turning into a 17-7 halftime deficit.
The first 20 minutes was all Kilburn and they should have managed to put more points on the board than a solitary converted try. Centre Pete Donaldson just about scored a sensational try after 10 minutes, beating half a dozen players and dragging 3 over the line before losing the ball. He made amends 5 minutes later bursting through some weak midfield defence, beating the fullback and scoring under the posts. This was converted by Chris Garvey to give them a 7-0 lead. At this stage Kilburn were well in control, the backs were making breaks everytime they touched the ball and were ably supported by the loosies Aly Bursey, Chris Protherough and Shayne Whyte.
Actonians saw the threat and reacted by keeping the ball in their forwards for the next quarter. They tightened the game up and took control. Driving mauls and one off runners saw them control possession and territory and camp in the Cosmos 22. Several attacks were defended well by Kilburn but an unfortunate mistake by Garvey from a mark saw Actonians mount an attack from a scrum close to Kilburns line and a forward crashed over for the try which was converted and the scores tied at 7-7 all after 25 minutes.
Actonians kept up their forwards orientated tactics for the rest of the half and aided by some elusive running from their fly-half close to the ruck controlled the game well. Eventually they scored another converted try from close range through the forwards and a late penalty gave them a 17-7 halftime scoreline.
Kilburn had to strike back immediately in the second half to have a chance and they did just that. Centre Richey Cunninghame ran on to a well weighted kick by Aly Bursey which was left to bounce by the As backs. The ball was quickly shifted out to the wing where hard running replacement Mo Taguri went through his opposite to score. Garvey converted and it made the score 17-14.
With Donaldson and Taguri creating havoc every time they touched the ball it seemed only a matter of time before Kilburn would score again to take the lead. However scrappy ball from scrums and lineouts meant the backs were not given the ball they needed to win the game. No 8 Shayne Whyte was forced to tidy up and run most scrum ball in the 2nd half that should have been given to the backs.
The Kilburn forwards also seemed to run out of puff during the second stanza with ball runners left isolated by their teammates which allowed Actonians to steal what should have been certain Kilburn ball. The Kilburn backs were also guilty on occasions of not protecting the ball when making promising bursts which led to turnovers. These mistakes and the lack of fitness are the difference between Kilburn winning the tight games or continuing with their run of frustrating narrow defeats.
The penalty count was very even and discipline was much improved on last week but a telling statistic was the fact that Kilburn gave away 3 penalties 5 metres out from the opposition try line and another 2 within the Actonians 22. These penalties were killer blows to Kilburns chances.
Despite spurning these attacking opportunities Kilburn had 2 great chances to win or at least draw in the last 5 minutes. A scrum 8 metres from the As line had fly-half Andy Allan and Cunninghame certain they had the match winning try lined up between then but again the ball didn’t get to the backline. Then a penalty from concerted pressure in the As 22 gave Garvey the chance to draw the game but he just pushed his kick wide.
So once again Kilburn couldn’t do enough to get the 2 points with the score remaining 17-14 to Actonians at the final whistle.
This leaves the Cosmos stuck with fellow cellar dwellers Old Abbotstonians and Old Millhillians on 0 wins from 4 games and a lot of work to do to avoid relegation.
The forward pack had a solid game but lacked a bit of aggression to take the game to Actonians and were a bit slow at times to the breakdowns. Flankers Protherough and Bursey had excellent games and replacement flanker Mike King produced some excellent hits in the second half.
The backline looked good throughout the match but suffered from a lack of good ball in the second half and some sloppy handling and lack of variety at times. Gavin Smith had a very solid game on the wing in his 1st XV debut and Mo Taguri looks like he could be a dangerman out wide with his powerful running.
Man of the match was centre Peter Donaldson who broke the line everytime he touched the ball and was solid on defence. There was a three way tie for 2nd shared by hard running winger Mo Taguri, flanker Aly Bursey and captain Declan Magee who turned in another excellent game.
Kilburn 14 (Peter Donaldson, Mohammed Taguri tries, Chris Garvey 2 conversions) Old Actonians 17 (2 tries, 2 conversions, 1 penalty)
Team: P Morgan, D Magee(C), H McKenzie, A Butcher, J Fenlon, C Protherough, A Bursey, S Whyte, L MacManus, A Allan, G Smith, R Cunninghame, P Donaldson, J Thorpe, C Garvey. Reserves- R Nunes, M Taguri, M King
The Kilburn Cosmos 1st XV continued their frustrating season with another close loss to a team that was there for the taking in a narrow 17-14 away defeat to Old Actonians on Saturday.
Kilburns exasperating ability to let teams back into the game and failure to take advantage of their strengths were on show once again with an early 7-0 lead to the Cosmos turning into a 17-7 halftime deficit.
The first 20 minutes was all Kilburn and they should have managed to put more points on the board than a solitary converted try. Centre Pete Donaldson just about scored a sensational try after 10 minutes, beating half a dozen players and dragging 3 over the line before losing the ball. He made amends 5 minutes later bursting through some weak midfield defence, beating the fullback and scoring under the posts. This was converted by Chris Garvey to give them a 7-0 lead. At this stage Kilburn were well in control, the backs were making breaks everytime they touched the ball and were ably supported by the loosies Aly Bursey, Chris Protherough and Shayne Whyte.
Actonians saw the threat and reacted by keeping the ball in their forwards for the next quarter. They tightened the game up and took control. Driving mauls and one off runners saw them control possession and territory and camp in the Cosmos 22. Several attacks were defended well by Kilburn but an unfortunate mistake by Garvey from a mark saw Actonians mount an attack from a scrum close to Kilburns line and a forward crashed over for the try which was converted and the scores tied at 7-7 all after 25 minutes.
Actonians kept up their forwards orientated tactics for the rest of the half and aided by some elusive running from their fly-half close to the ruck controlled the game well. Eventually they scored another converted try from close range through the forwards and a late penalty gave them a 17-7 halftime scoreline.
Kilburn had to strike back immediately in the second half to have a chance and they did just that. Centre Richey Cunninghame ran on to a well weighted kick by Aly Bursey which was left to bounce by the As backs. The ball was quickly shifted out to the wing where hard running replacement Mo Taguri went through his opposite to score. Garvey converted and it made the score 17-14.
With Donaldson and Taguri creating havoc every time they touched the ball it seemed only a matter of time before Kilburn would score again to take the lead. However scrappy ball from scrums and lineouts meant the backs were not given the ball they needed to win the game. No 8 Shayne Whyte was forced to tidy up and run most scrum ball in the 2nd half that should have been given to the backs.
The Kilburn forwards also seemed to run out of puff during the second stanza with ball runners left isolated by their teammates which allowed Actonians to steal what should have been certain Kilburn ball. The Kilburn backs were also guilty on occasions of not protecting the ball when making promising bursts which led to turnovers. These mistakes and the lack of fitness are the difference between Kilburn winning the tight games or continuing with their run of frustrating narrow defeats.
The penalty count was very even and discipline was much improved on last week but a telling statistic was the fact that Kilburn gave away 3 penalties 5 metres out from the opposition try line and another 2 within the Actonians 22. These penalties were killer blows to Kilburns chances.
Despite spurning these attacking opportunities Kilburn had 2 great chances to win or at least draw in the last 5 minutes. A scrum 8 metres from the As line had fly-half Andy Allan and Cunninghame certain they had the match winning try lined up between then but again the ball didn’t get to the backline. Then a penalty from concerted pressure in the As 22 gave Garvey the chance to draw the game but he just pushed his kick wide.
So once again Kilburn couldn’t do enough to get the 2 points with the score remaining 17-14 to Actonians at the final whistle.
This leaves the Cosmos stuck with fellow cellar dwellers Old Abbotstonians and Old Millhillians on 0 wins from 4 games and a lot of work to do to avoid relegation.
The forward pack had a solid game but lacked a bit of aggression to take the game to Actonians and were a bit slow at times to the breakdowns. Flankers Protherough and Bursey had excellent games and replacement flanker Mike King produced some excellent hits in the second half.
The backline looked good throughout the match but suffered from a lack of good ball in the second half and some sloppy handling and lack of variety at times. Gavin Smith had a very solid game on the wing in his 1st XV debut and Mo Taguri looks like he could be a dangerman out wide with his powerful running.
Man of the match was centre Peter Donaldson who broke the line everytime he touched the ball and was solid on defence. There was a three way tie for 2nd shared by hard running winger Mo Taguri, flanker Aly Bursey and captain Declan Magee who turned in another excellent game.
Kilburn 14 (Peter Donaldson, Mohammed Taguri tries, Chris Garvey 2 conversions) Old Actonians 17 (2 tries, 2 conversions, 1 penalty)
Team: P Morgan, D Magee(C), H McKenzie, A Butcher, J Fenlon, C Protherough, A Bursey, S Whyte, L MacManus, A Allan, G Smith, R Cunninghame, P Donaldson, J Thorpe, C Garvey. Reserves- R Nunes, M Taguri, M King
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