A lovely pre-match Lunch in the Ludlow Rugby Club overlooked by the imposing Ludlow Castle, was a precursor to a match that saw Kenilworth come close to a league victory away from home.

Alas, it was not to be, as they only came away with one bonus point. Again, it took the team a while to impose their will on the match, to change the impetus in their favour.

This young side is learning all the time and the key point for them is they need to come out the blocks much faster.

The rain had stopped and Ludlow opened the scoring on seven minutes when the scrum half, Rhys Perkins, spotted a gap in the Kenilworth defence off the lineout drive and slid over under the posts.

This was converted by AJ Rocke. This was quickly followed by an interception try from the Ludlow inside centre, Jack Lines, who ran 60 metres to score under the posts, this again was converted by AJ Rocke. Kenilworth seemed to be still on the coach and were trying to get a foothold in the opening exchanges.

They had several incursions into the Ludlow 22 metre area, but just could not get over the whitewash. Ludlow's defence held firm, with aggression and organization.

Kenilworth at this stage just seemed to lack that killer instinct to turn pressure into points. Kenilworth's forwards seemed to lack that higher level of aggression and were playing catch up in trying to secure good front foot ball and continuity.

0n 18 minutes Ludlow scored again through hooker Jack Small, who drove over from five metres out. This made the score 19-0. The writing was on the wall for the Kenilworth team. On 34 mins Ludlow scored again through effective forward pressure with their second row, Ben Black, going over the line and this was converted by AJ Rocke.

At half time this made the score 26-0 and Kenilworth needed to get back in the game. Chances had gone begging in attack and in defence 26 points was not an acceptable number to concede.

Then came the flick of the switch! The second half was like chalk and cheese, Kenilworth immediately got the ascendency and showed what they are capable of with effective strategy and execution. Their defence was much tighter and this now brought rewards.

With concerted pressure and great continuity, skipper Ted Bromwich scored to the right of the posts after player organization by Gaz Renowden.

Charlie Wollaston converted. Kenilworth now were on a roll and 20 mins into the second half they scored again through Max Brain after a forward drive off a line out. Ludlow were giving away penalties as they were under pressure, this had led to a yellow card given by North Midlands referee Damian Hampton, and Kenilworth took the numerical advantage.

After 25 minutes of the second half, Kenilworth scored again through applying pressure on the kick chases.

A really determined chase and charge down by winger Hector Smith, resulted in a try for the winger as he followed up his charge, picked the ball up on the run and went over under the posts. This was again converted by Charlie Wollaston. This now made the score 26-19.

In the last 10 minutes of the match both teams could have won the game, it was frenetic and at times disjointed. Both defences held out, Ludlow also missed a penalty kick from 40 metres out for more points. The referee blew up to finish the match and the Kenilworth squad came off rightly disappointed.

They felt they needed to do themselves more justice in their first half display. In the second half they showed their true potential, in building phases, being patient, showing much greater resilience and being smarter in attack.

This young Kenilworth side needs to find more from the get-go. The replacements, Ross Lowthian, Joe Stockbridge and Sandeep Dhaliwal helped with their energy and fortitude. The Gibson brothers also brought the energy and drive.

Unfortunately, after the first half it was all too late, and Kenilworth had to play catch up. They came away with a bonus point, and are currently 10th in a league table of 12 teams. Still all to play for. Belief and resilience are the keys for Kenilworth.