Resilient Kenilworth dig deep to stay with high-flying Burton

A serious accident involving Jonny Cresswell’s brother Ollie overshadowed the lead-up to the visit of Burton, with both players missing the game as a result, writes Ralph Murray.
Jake Dodd goes on a charge for Kenilworth in their Midlands One West encounter with Burton.Jake Dodd goes on a charge for Kenilworth in their Midlands One West encounter with Burton.
Jake Dodd goes on a charge for Kenilworth in their Midlands One West encounter with Burton.

But despite being forced into fielding a new front row, Kenilworth showed outstanding resilience against a physically superior side which will stand them in good stead for a five-week period which sees them play all of the top four.

The game got off to a promising start for the hosts as a rolling maul crossed the Burton line, only for the referee to decide the ball had been held up.

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From the ensuing scrum, Burton infringed and Tom Kendall converted the penalty.

This stirred Burton into a period of sustained offence which yielded a penalty, only for Kendall to kick Ks back in front after a high tackle on Jack Gibson.

Ks’ excellent defence was a feature of the first half but the ability to convert turnover into counter attack was also prevalent. One such move saw the busy Gareth Renowden break the line and run half the pitch before being tackled.

The ensuing ruck seemed to offer no impending threat but the Burton winger saw a narrow blindside gap and, following a neat chip over the cover defence, touched down in the corner.

The conversion gave the visitors a 10-6 interval lead.

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A converted penalty apiece at the start of the second half prefaced a good period for Kenilworth, with Gibson the pick.

Gibson was then called on at the other end to haul down the ball carrier as Burton countered and another spell of pressure from the visitors ended with their full-back stepping through some lacklustre tackling to score near the posts.

The conversion attempt struck the upright but the lead was now out to nine points, which was stretched further with another penalty.

With the home side forced into long periods of sustained defence, the fatigue would eventually set in. A Burton catch-and-drive close to the line proved unstoppable and the score was becoming increasingly lopsided.

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Ks’ response was both thrilling and immediate. Ed Hannam stepped his marker and broke the line with a searing break of almost 40 metres. An outstanding tackle by the Burton 15 looked to have ended the threat but a great offload found Dominic Sheehan who in turn delivered the scoring pass to the industrious Renowden. The extras brought the score back to 26-16.

High-flying Burton went in search of the bonus-point try but, after adding a penalty, an attempted offload was well read by Renowden who sprinted over unopposed to get Kenilworth within a score.

It looked as though Kenilworth would at least pick up a bonus point for their heroic efforts but Burton pressed again, taking advantage of some tired tackling to cross the line and secure the maximum return.

 Dan Rink and Will Field both scored a hat-trick of tries as Ks progressed to the third round of the National Colts Cup with a 60-5 win at Old Halesonians.