Kenilworth beaten by Broadstreet in Warwickshire Cup final

After last week’s frustrating loss on the road at Bridgnorth, Kenilworth were keen to get back to winning ways.

With both sides wanting to limited the loading (game time) for their players, it was decided to double-up and make this game the Warwickshire final as well.

That the Warwickshire Cup has lost some of its past lustre is a conversation for another time; to confirm, having never won the Warwickshire Cup it was very important to Kenilworth.

With so much riding on the game, the perfect start was required. Within 10 minutes however, the home side had conceded two soft tries.

Kenilworth had to hit back quickly or face a long afternoon. Having slowly now started to find some flow, the home side spurned a couple of try scoring chances with the final pass being put down. Kenilworth did eventually trouble the score board, the ball was moved neatly wide for wing David Opoku Fordjour to set-up fellow wing Ben Harrison. Fly half Tyler Price adding the extras.

On the 20 minute mark, it was Kenilworth who scored again, Opoku- Fordjour using his pace and finishing skills to score wide on the left wing.

Now in need of their own tide-turning moment, the visitors worked their way up field and took advantage of a defensive moment of madness from the Kenilworth men, the Broadstreet twelve taking full advantage to score under the posts.

Kenilworth edged the next 10 minutes of the half with the majority of possession, though struggled to unlock the stout Broadstreet defence. The Blue and Gold scrum was showing signs of getting the better of the visitors’, earning one or two penalties to help take the pressure off at times.

Perhaps against the run of play (the last ten minutes anyway) it was Broadstreet who scored next, pouncing on a Kenilworth fumble and finishing off clinically.

The final score of the half came through the boot of Kenilworth fly half, Tyler Price who knocked over a penalty that came off the back of sustained pressure from the home side, and also earned a yellow for the Broadstreet player to boot.

The second half saw Kenilworth with the majority of possession and increasing influence from the dominant scrum.

The home side created two or three scoring opportunities however during the first period of the second half but unfortunately missed the opportunity to further close the gap on the visitors. With the visitors looking tired now, Kenilworth earned themselves another penalty which was duly dispatched by Price.

With 8 minutes to go, Kenilworth played their best approach rugby to create half a chance for fullback Sam Peppitt; that’s all the Loughborough student needed as he waltzed his way through past two or three would-be tacklers to dot down under the posts. Tyler’s conversion saw Kenilworth take the lead for the first time.

This game now reminiscent of last week’s at Bridgnorth, was it going to be Kenilworth’s turn to have worked hard to claw-back the opposition from their early lead and win the encounter?

Scrum awarded to Kenilworth, surely there wasn’t much left now. Scrum penalty to Kenilworth. Here we go, kick to the corner for the lineout and the chance to put the game to bed.

Sadly the kick to touch did not go out, and instead fell to the Broadstreet fullback, excellent on the day, who launched a counter attack back towards their own 10 metre line.

Kenilworth gave away a penalty at the breakdown, the visitors kicked to the corner, showed good nerve to execute their phases and scored with the last play of the game. The conversion took the final score to 25-27 and a Broadstreet win.