Late sucker punch for valiant Kenilworth

Two late Longton tries were tough on Kenilworth, who more than a match their high-flying visitors for large chunks of this National Three Midlands encounter.

Heavy overnight rain had made for a heavy playing surface and the opening exchanges were dominated by defensive plays.

Towards the mid-point of the half Longton opened the scoring after a series of phases put hooker George Glenn over, with the successful conversion from Chris Buck giving them a 7-0 lead.

Within minutes of the opening score, skipper Mike Rust went over to open Ks’ account. Adam Canning kicked the extras to bring the scores level.

Longton responded with a series of attacking moves and the Kenilworth defence was impressive in both its organisation and intensity, with Matt Greevy and Olly Jones combining to save what looked like a certain score for the visiting winger.

The deadlock was eventually broken when the ball skidded free from a Longton scrum close to the home line. Visiting number eight Gareth Rawlings was the quickest to react, dropping on the loose ball to score his side’s second try, which was unconverted.

From the outset, Longton had used the rolling maul as a key weapon and had made good ground using it; from one such attack the ball was sent out to the right wing and poor tackling allowed Scott Rawlings in at the corner to make the half-time score 17-7 to the visitors.

Kenilworth made their intentions clear at the start of the second stanza and spent much of the opening 20 minutes in the opposition half.

Their spell of possession was eventually broken up by Longton, which led to a breakaway try for winger Pete Clifton.

Kenilworth suffered another blow soon after this with the influential Rust suffering a hamstring injury which forced him out of the game.

Despite the loss of their skipper, Ks remained on the front foot and their pressure led to the Longton prop being sent to the sin-bin for foul play.

Kenilworth took five minutes to take advantage, with good interplay between Luke Watts and Matt Greevy allowing debutant winger Kieran O’Rourke to score his side’ second try.

The conversion put the home side within a score of a bonus point.

However, with Ks pushing hard for some reward, Longton scored two late opportunistic tries to give themselves a slightly flattering margin of victory.