Kenilworth flatten Dunlop

With this emphatic 15-try victory over the hapless whipping boys of Midlands One West, Kenilworth did all within their power to maintain momentum in their fight against relegation, writes Bob Jones.

However, the news that fellow relegation-battlers Ludlow and Whitchurch had both won took much of the gloss off the result and means that even two bonus-point wins in their final games may not be enough to save Ks from the drop.

After a sluggish start, Ks found their rhythm in the sixth minute. A Bobby Thompson surge and Nyle Beckett dash were the catalysts, then a Will Owen break saw the ball reach Jonny Cresswell, who smashed his way over for an unconverted try.

With their opponents all at sea in defence and with a creaking scrum, more points were soon to follow, Alex Selby applying the finishing touch to a drive by the pack. An isolated attack by Dunlop resulted in a penalty for coming in from the side, but the kick was missed.

Andy Whitehall and Gareth Renowden combined to carve open the cover and found Pat Jenkinson in support to cross for the third unconverted try in the 17th minute.

Another Whitehall break and offload to Jenkinson brought the flanker his second try five minutes later, converted by George Trafford.

The north Coventry side were living off scraps, mainly via free-kicks and penalties as the home side’s understandable over-enthusiasm for combat came to the fore.

The pace of Beckett was proving a major threat and it was no surprise that following good work by Chris Muncaster and Cresswell, he crossed for the first of his four tries, again unconverted, just after the half-hour.

To their credit, the visitors dug in, and by virtue of some better defensive work, prevented further scores before the interval.

The second half was barely two minutes old when Phil Dickson seized the ball in his own half and proceeded to out-think and outpace the cover en route to the line. Kenilworth’s kicking woes continued as the conversion again failed.

Not to be outdone, within a minute, Beckett received the ball in a similar position to Dickson and hared through for a touchdown. This time, with Rob Bennett applying the boot, the conversion succeeded.

Presumably fearing another rout, Dunlop put together a series of determined attacks. They were rewarded with an unconverted try after a neat move in Ks’ 22.

Unfortunately for them, this was as good as it got.

Catalin Graur was next on the score-sheet, thundering over wide-right. Bennett was narrowly wide with the conversion, but the floodgates were well and truly opened.

First, a break by Renowden paved the way for a try by Whitehall, Bennett adding the extras. Whitehall was then on hand to offload to Jake Burrows, who crossed for an unconverted try on the left.

A sporadic break by Dunlop needed a fine tackle into touch to prevent their second try.

Normal service quickly resumed, with the elusive Beckett over twice in as many minutes, the second converted by Bennett.

As the game entered its final throes, Dunlop’s plight was not helped by a yellow card for deliberate offside. The resulting penalty to touch by Whitehall saw a catch-and-drive by the pack, with Nick Collett touching down for an unconverted score.

The pace and guile of Whitehall was consistently opening up the defence. Owen was the next beneficiary, being on hand to take a scoring pass, with Bennett adding the extras.

Renowden’s skill and experience had also been to the fore, and it was he who got the final try, powering his way from his own half for a converted try.