Kenilworth 22 Berkswell & Balsall 23: Ks’ afternoon summed up by an opening-play fumble

The omens were not good as Ks fumbled the opening kick-off as two players went for the same ball but they recovered well to take play to the Berkswell 22.

In what was to become a feature of the afternoon, Kenilworth misfired in the lineout and an early chance went begging.

Having regained possession, Ks were awarded a penalty for a ruck infringement and opted for touch five metres out but again the lineout went astray.

The home side stuck to the task and, after a series of infringements, elected to take a shot at goal which Josh Hickman banged home for a 3-0 lead.

Berkswell were not slow to respond and the ball found its way to the left wing where good interplay put the centre into a gap for the first try of the afternoon. A smart conversion into a stiff breeze saw Bs into a 7-3 lead.

Kenilworth responded with Ross Lowthian stepping an attempted tackle to score and restore their advantage following an attacking scrum, but the advantage was short-lived.

Berkswell took advantage of weak defence to win a scrum 15 metres out and were allowed to maul the ball almost to the line from where a second try was scored.

The ebb and flow continued as Ks hit back with a try from Ed Hannam who stepped and handed off a tackler en route to a landing between the sticks to put the hosts back on top.

Infuriatingly for Kenilworth the pattern of the game repeated itself as Berkswell threatened the line before being awarded a penalty which the full-back nailed to tie the game at 17-17.

Back came the hosts with Hickman finding Beckett with what looked like a scoring pass. However, the defence was up to the task and he was bundled into touch.

With the half running down, Berkswell won another penalty and the teams turned around with the vsitors 20-17 up.

Ks made their mark in the opening minutes of the second half with Cresswell touching down after a driving maul. With the conversion blown wide in the gusting wind the home side held a slender 22-20 lead.

Frequent stoppages disrupted the flow of the game and there were errors aplenty as Kenilworth tried to force the play.

Hickman received a stiff arm to the throat which brought a yellow card for the Berkswell winger and gave Kenilworth a man advantage at a critical phase of the game.

However, with ten minutes to go Bs won a penalty which gave the visitors a 23-22 lead and the Glasshouse faithful were again fearing the worst.

Ks pressed to regain the advantage but a combination of poor decision-making and handling errors kept the advantage with the visitors.

With time running down a driving maul looked to have crossed the Berkswell line but the referee called a knock-on and the game was over.