Kilburn 52 - Old Actonians 17KILBURN kept up their hopes of escaping the drop as they ran in eight tries on Saturday to overwhelm Old Actonians 52-17.
The Cosmos dominated from the first whistle to the last and, after two early turnovers, swift reactions in the back line sent Peter Donaldson clear to open the scoring.
With an assured pack settling early into the scrums, Kilburn pressed home their advantage and quick hands across the park released Donaldson for his second try within 10 minutes.
But Actonians responded quickly, pushing upfield and winning a lineout five metres from the line, from which the Cosmos defence splintered and allowed the visitors in for an unconverted score.
The home side regained the initiative immediately as the ball was passed wide from a clean kick-off and Glenn Cunninghame marked his 50th 1st XV league appearance for the club with a try from 1 metre out, picking up the dregs from another Chris Hocking break.
Cunninghame was followed over the line by debutant and man of the match Hocking, then hooker Declan McGee, with Andy Allan adding his second and third conversions of the afternoon.
Actonians replied again just before the halftime break, outpacing the Cosmos defence after a midfield defensive lapse, for an unconverted try which made the score 31-10.
Kilburn were denied a serious run at the line for the first 20 minutes after the restart, but skipper Scott Aitken remained assured in the lineout restarts and forced numerous errors from the opposition.
The ever-present front row threat of McGee and Peter Fitzsimmons kept OAs at bay and the floodgates reopened in the final quarter of the game.
Allan, Magee - following a superb move on the blindside from scrum-half Liam McManus - and replacement wing Rohan McNaughtan all crossed the line, with Allan adding two more conversions to ensure Kilburn passed their half-century.
MVP went to debutant inside centre Chris Hocking, 2 points went to Peter Donaldson who scored 2 tries and set up 2 more and 1 point to scrum half Liam MacManus who provided excellent ball to the backline and chose his options wisely.
Kilburn 52 (P Donaldson 2, D Magee 2, G Cunninghame, C Hocking, R McNaughtan, A Allan tries, Allan 5 conversions, McNaughtan conversion)
Team: Phil Morgan, Declan Magee, Peter Fitzsimmons, Andy Butcher, Kurt Shrubsole, Aly Bursey, Scott Aitken, Shayne Whyte, Liam MacManus, Andy Allan, Karlos Gordon, Chris Hocking, Richey Cunninghame, Peter Donaldson, Dan Riley. Reserves: Jon Church, Larry Porter, Rohan McNaughtan
