Dudley Kingswinford 66-7 Kenilworth

On a cold January day in the heart of the Black Country spectators saw a feast of running rugby from Dudley Kingswinford and a spirited performance from Kenilworth Men's 1st XV.

The game itself was open and both teams wanted to play fast rugby in the right areas of the field.

Kenilworth's sticking point was first phase possession from their scrum where Dudley Kingswinford had the ascendency and used it as weapon to gain penalties. This proved to be very effective.

The game itself was open and exciting. Both teams wanting to play with ball in hand in the right areas of the field. Dudley opened the scoring through number 8 Peter Griffiths, after sustained pressure.

There followed some good spells of defence from Kenilworth and snippets of attack which yielded no points at this stage. Dudley scored again on 17 minutes through Ben Rowley, converted by Samuel Vaughan.

At this stage Kenilworth defended with good shape and aggressive line speed but could not match Dudley's physicality and power. Consequently, Dudley scored four more tries before half time through Peter Griffiths (two), Stefan Shillingford and Alex Deery. Sam Vaughan converting three of them.

Kenilworth showed resilience and determination even with limited attacking ball. Therefore, from a line out drive ten metres out from the Dudley line, they took a well taken try from Ed Hannam, who dived over to score from the sustained pressure.

This made the score at half time 38 points to seven.

The Kenilworth forwards were doing an effective job as possible. The lineout was functioning quite well and the backs showed moments of fluidity and promise. Continuity was the key.

In the second half, Dudley were moving the ball wide at every opportunity, they butchered several chances and Kenilworth also showed that with ball in hand they too could force Dudley to defend for longer periods of time.

The ensuing developments saw Dudley score five more tries through Stefan Shillingford, Thomas Walker (three) and Peter Griffiths, Sam Vaughan converting all five.

Kenilworth had a few opportunities to score themselves, however after sustained pressure in the opposition 22 metre area, they were unable to effectively finish to score.

Instead, they gave away a penalty for holding on when shifting the ball wide and Dudley scored a try at the other end of the field.

The score at the finish was 66 points to seven.

This just about reflected the gap between the two teams.

Kenilworth are fielding very young sides at the moment, and the experience gained will hopefully come to fruition in the long term. However, it was a much better performance from the young Kenilworth squad, hope springs eternal.

Outstanding performances came from the two more experienced players, flanker Adam Collingwood and scrum half Gareth Renowden.

The next men's 1st XV match is at home to Stourbridge on Saturday 25 January, with a 2.15 kick off.