Battling Kenilworth see off Broadstreet to win Warwickshire Cup at long last

Kenilworth are celebrating after they claimed a first Warwickshire Senior Men’s Cup win in more than 40 years - having previously lost eight finals.

They proved to be too good on the night at the Nick Newbold Stadium in Coventry as they saw off Broadstreet 29-20.

The large crowd included a lot of travelling supporters from Kenilworth, and they were treated to some clinical rugby from their team while Broadstreet also played their part in an epic encounter. 

Kenilworth fielded a young side under skipper Ted Bromwich, with 13 former mini and juniors in the squad.

There were three survivors from Twickenham cup final of 2019 in Gaz Renowden, Rhys Jones and Bobby Thompson, with the latter playing his final game before hanging up his boots.

After defending well in the opening exchanges, the opening try came from Kenilworth after nine minutes. There were initial breaks bySam Peppitt and Ted Bromwich with the move finished off by Thompson to make it 5-0.

The try was quickly followed by another try from full-back Mark O’Connor after a lovely break by Joe England off a lineout, and O’Connoralso converted to put his side 12-0 ahead after 14 minutes.

Broadstreet hit back with a penalty, but Kenilworth scored again on 26 minutes through fast ball of a ruck from 40 metres out. A lovely break by Peppitt and a well-timed pass to Finn Barnacle secured five more points.

O’Connor converted again and Kenilworth were 19-3 up.

From a scrum penalty and a kick into Broadstreet’s 22, Kenilworth scored another try off a lineout drive from 12 metres out, which was scored by Thompson and again converted by O’Connor to extend the lead to 26-3.

At the start of the second half Kenilworthmade it 29-3 with an O’Connor penalty, and it looked like the game was done.

But Broadstreet then found their collective mojo and started to make inroads into the match.

They scored a well worked try through Jevon Zikala finished and then scored again through Martin Wood, with Ambrose Deery’s conversion making the score 29-15.

Deep into the second half Rhys Jones was shown a yellow card for a high tackle as Kenilworth went down to 14 men, but they dug deep.

And despite a late, late try from Deery, Kenilworth had done enough to seal the silverware and start the celebrations.

The cup win is a hugely fitting end to the season and skipper Ted Bromwich triumphantly held the cup aloft.

Full credit must go to the coaching team of director of rugby Matt Price, Jimmy Gopperth and Louis Hall who have done a great job of making this group more resilient and playing in the ‘Kenilworth way.’

Things bode well for the future in all of the aspects of Kenilworth Rugby.