Kilburn Cosmos 1st XV vs Cheshunt - 31st Jan 2009

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

Kilburn Cosmos 2nd XV vs Old Actonians 2nd XV - 31st Jan 2009

Kilburn Cosmos 17 - Old Actonians 52

Missed tackles cost Kilburn Cosmos 2XV dearly as their fight back stumbled against Old Actonians on Saturday.
Despite some good work by both forwards and backs, including some excellent phases and some great possession, failure to make their tackles count against a hard running home team meant Cosmos were never on top of the game.
Charles Winstone and new man Peter Fitzsimmons led the forwards with a superb display in both the set piece and loose parts of the game. Fitzsimmons particularly impressed with his defence skills and his refusal to back down in any situation. Despite this, the first half was a torrid affair for Kilburn, who found their defence in tatters after a strong start by the home side. The forwards matched Old Actonians and turned over opposition ball but the reaction to turnover was often too slow to make anything of it.
The halftime interval bought about a minor turn around for the visitors and the one way traffic stopped. Some well worked phase play and a better reaction to turnover ball unleashed the wingers and Anthony Koporo made some excellent runs, eventually earning a stunning try from 60 yards. 2nd half replacement flanker Ben Thorne made an impact, linking well with prop Fitzsimmons and skipper Simon Huxtable to keep possession of the ball. In the end though, it was not enough to turn over a large first half score.

Kilburn 17 (Seb Bisley, Anthony Koporo, Chris Hocking tries, Hocking con)

Team: Phil Morgan, Jon Church, Peter Fitzsimmons, Simon Huxtable, Gavin Smith, David Von Dadelszen, Ed Horn-Smith, Charles Winstone, JP Le Rouzic, Dan Boyle, Tim Ross, Chris Hocking, Sebastian Bisley, Anthony Koporo, Chris Coane. Res: Ben Thorne