Kilburn 6 - Cheshunt 12
The Kilburn Cosmos 1st XV missed a big chance to take the scalp of league leaders Cheshunt on Saturday, going down 12-6. The Cosmos paid the price for a couple of defensive lapses and as has been the problem all season failed to capitalise on their scoring chances.
The first 20 minutes was all Cheshunt and they used a simple game plan of sending their big forwards running close to the ruck. As they sucked in the Cosmos loosies and inside backs holes appeared which the Cosmos forwards struggled to fill and Cheshunt made a number of breaks through this inside channel.
Some excellent defence from loosies Scott Aitken and Aly Bursey and especially fly half Shayne Whyte managed to halt a few of these raids but eventually Cheshunts big no8 stormed through a gap in the 22 and offloaded to support for the first try which made it 5-0.
The rest of the half was pretty even with neither team being able to gain any real advantage. The Cheshunt backs looked dangerous on occasions but they were shut down with good scrambling defence. Kilburn had their chances but their biggest problem was getting clean ball from scrums and rucks. Pressure from the Cheshunt halfback and loosies meant a tough day at the office for half Liam MacManus and his 2nd half replacement Chris Protherough and resulted in slow, disrupted ball for the Kilburn backline who were trying to get quick ball to big wingers Donaldson and Smales. The only points Kilburn managed to show for their efforts was a penalty from infront to inside centre Andy Allan after 30 minutes.
The halftime score looked like being 5-3 until a seemingly harmless Cheshunt back move was shifted to their left wing who beat his opposing winger, stepped through the cover defence and scored under the posts. This was converted and made the score 12-3 which it remained at the halftime whistle.
Despite this try Kilburn were pretty confident at halftime, they had managed to disrupt Cheshunts game and felt they were in with an excellent chance of an upset despite struggling in the lineout and in getting clean ball to the backs.
The 2nd half started pretty evenly but eventually Kilburn began to get on top. A penalty from Andy Allan after blatant offside play by the Cheshunt backs made the score 12-6. For the first 25 minutes it seemed that Kilburn were going to overpower their opponents but once again it wasn’t to be.
Two chances in the 2nd half were crucial to the Cosmos and both went begging. The first one saw a Kilburn kick fumbled by the Cheshunt fullback and regathered by the Cosmos. It was quickly shifted out the backs and a try looked imminent but a poor pass by Cunninghame to Smales on the wing was ruled forward and a golden chance went missing. The 2nd came after a great run from Donaldson down the wing took Kilburn to 10 metres from the line. A couple of quick passes out the backs would have seen a try in the corner but miscommunication saw the pass go to the wrong recipient which was then fumbled which slowed the play down and allowed Cheshunt to disrupt the move and clear the ball.
After these near misses things started to go wrong for Kilburn. Replacement scrumhalf Protherough was sinbinned after only a couple of minutes on the field leaving Kilburn a man short in the backs. Dynamic prop Hayden McKenzie also went off injured which was a big blow. Despite these setbacks Kilburn managed to keep Cheshunt at bay but at the same time couldn’t mount the same pressure they had early in the 2nd half and the fulltime whistle went with Kilburn once again within a converted try of taking a much needed victory.
There wasn’t much to complain about in Kilburns efforts – it was a very physical encounter in tough conditions and everybody fronted up. The forward pack struggled in the lineout and defensively early on but otherwise matched their top of the table opposites. The backline suffered from a lack of clean, quick ball and missed a couple of opportunities but otherwise looked pretty sharp.
MVP was judged to be flyhalf Shayne Whyte who put in a huge defensive effort and made some storming runs. Openside Aly Bursey was given the 2 points for another typically aggressive game in attack and defence and Paul Ledington got 1 point for another excellent effort.
Kilburn resume their fight for survival in the league with a vital home game against Old Actonians on the 14th of February
Kilburn 6 (Andy Allan 2 penalties)
Team: Hayden McKenzie, Declan Magee, Ben Zaug, Paul Ledington, Andy Butcher, Scott Aitken(C), Aly Bursey, Kurt Shrubsole, Liam MacManus, Shayne Whyte, Gav Smales, Andy Allan, Richey Cunninghame, Peter Donaldson, Dan Riley. Res: Rick Nunes, Chris Protherough, Karlos Gordon
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