Dudley Kingswinford run out of ideas at Kenilworth

DK went down to a 26-12 defeat at fellow promotion hopefuls Kenilworth on Saturday following a run of four straight wins.

A struggling Kidderminster outfit are up next up for DK, with Shillingford keen to see his side get back on track in front of their own fans.

“Kidderminster have struggled and on paper it’s a game we should win,” he said. “But for me it’s not just about the result it’s about the performance.

“We don’t want to get caught up playing sevens rugby, we have to make sure our systems are in place and working.”

There was a touch of controversy surrounding Saturday’s defeat at Kenilworth.

DK were reduced to 14 during the first half when Ryan Smitheman was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on, with Kenilworth adding a try during the period DK were a man short.

A similar incident in the second half involving a home player resulted in a scrum and not a penalty and yellow card. Shillingford, however, refused to use that as an excuse for the loss.

“There was a period where we were down to 14 following a yellow card, and a similar incident happened later on and their player got away with it,” he said.

“But that’s just one of those things and I was a little bit disappointed with our performance.

They are a good outfit and we knew they were going to be. But we struggled to go to plan B.

“We had opportunities to stay in the game but we didn’t take them.”

Tommy Walker scored both DK tries with Sam Vaughan adding a conversion.

Kidderminster will head to DK still looking for their first win of the season after losing 43-19 at home to Droitwich.

Old Halesonians gave table-topping Stoke their toughest test to date.

But unfortunately an impressive Old Hales performance failed to check the leaders as they edged home 27-25 to record a fifth straight win.

Lichfield are fifth following a resounding 39-5 victory over visiting Whitchurch.

Stourbridge Lions went down to a 32-24 defeat away to Newbold.

No we have to keep chasing those bonus points.

“It’s only one loss, we just have to make sure we don’t slip up again at the weekend,” said Shillingford.

“It’s a long old season and the aims is to get to Christmas and then reassess.

Whit strug with farming guys when they get a side out they will take points off teams.

The story of this game revolved around two similar incidents one in each half and the way they were treated which could have changed the course of the game. It certainly was a topic of conversation, for most of the evening.

The game started at a pace which was kept up throughout and was a credit to the fitness levels of both sides. The opening exchanges were a series of probes by both sides and both defences were able to cope with the early thrusts. It was Kenilworth who opened the scoring with their experienced scrum half taking a quick penalty and linking with the open side and the outside centre was given a chance to take an arcing run outside the disorganised DK defence, with the conversion added it was 7-0 to Kenilworth.

DK almost levelled the scores, when following a penalty kick into the right hand corner, DK won the line out and drove around the back of the line out and were making were driving through their back row, only to have their progress stopped by a knock-on.

The game was progressing with Kenilworth building up the pressure on DK, but DK were also looking threating when they had the chance to attack. Then the first of the two incidents, Ryan Smitheman was yellow carded just inside the DK half for a deliberate Knock-on, no real complaint it was one for the team. The one man advantage for 10 minutes saw Kenilworth ramp up the pressure during which time they had a second try, following a sustained period of possession, 12-0 to Kenilworth.

No more damage on the scoreboard and DK were back to 15 men and it was Sam Vaughan who made his mark on the game from full back, with a counter attack run, which he finished off with a wipers kick deep into the Kenilworth 22, it rolled into touch. Although, the actual line out led to nothing DK were awarded a scrummage just outside the 22, from which a backs move saw Sam enter the line giving Tommy Walker a good run to the line and he was over for the try, Sam added the extras 12-7.

Half time and everything to play for.

DK started the second with a will and were camped in the Kenilworth half for the opening minutes of the half.

It was now that the second incident occurred, following a period on DK pressure in the Kenilworth 22, a Kenilworth player went for an interception, in a similar fashion to Ryan’s attempt in the first half, and knock-on was the decision, the whole DK following support, voiced their opinions. A scrummage, not a penalty, 15 men not 14 for the next 10 minutes, and it was 20 metres closer to their own line, than the DK yellow card was.

DK continued to attack and they were not getting any reward for their endeavours; it became Kenilworth’s turn to take charge of the game and they proved more efficient in the red zone and scored two tries to increase their lead to 26-7.

Though to their credit it was DK who finished the stronger almost putting together a drive for the losing bonus point, in the final minutes of the game DK were held up over the line, and the final play of the game saw Tommy Walker score his second try after he was put into space on his wing, so a Kenilworth win 26-12.

Next week DK are at home to promoted Kidderminster.