Keyworth’s Cup run intercepted by resolute St Ives

The Cambridgeshire side made their first visit to picturesque Widmerpool to take on a Keyworth side, buoyant from a good win against Hamians, a week prior. The visitors were big in all areas, with a strong running full-back who would have dwarfed many second row forwards! However, it was, once again, Keyworth’s pack that dominated the set piece, taking the lineouts 60:40 and the scrums by around 80:20.

Despite the glut of possession, the back line failed to fire, which thankfully was the same for St Ives, who, if anything, were even worse than Keyworth. Their scrum-half was man of the match and their fly-half would probably have got ‘Dick of the Day’ had such an award been made!

Keyworth opened the scoring on 7 minutes with some Barnes-Wallis style passing which found its way to James Muston on the left wing, around 25m out. He did incredibly well to beat two defenders with hand-offs, twists and swerves and touch down, wide out to make it 5 – 0. There was no further score until the 33rd minute when Simon Richards added a straightforward penalty to extend the lead after St Ives were penalised for not releasing the player at the tackle.

The response by the visitors was swift and decisive. When the Black & Ambers conceded a penalty at the ruck, 30m out, their quicksilver scrum-half took a quick tap and was through the first line of defence before Keyworth had time to retreat the necessary 10m. When he was eventually brought to ground, a smart off-load in the tackle saw the openside flanker in close support cross easily, near the posts, enabling an easy conversion and bringing St Ives to within one point at the interval.

St Ives got the first points in the second half when they slotted a penalty from in front of the posts when the referee, who was excellent throughout, pinged the home side for holding on in the tackle, to take the lead for the first time, 8 – 10. This time, it was it was Keyworth who stormed back and after several charging runs by forward players, their most effective tactic, it was waltzing Waldo who skipped over with 2 defenders clinging to him. Richo added the extras to restore the home side’s lead.

Despite a scrum that ran backwards at times, St Ives and their scrum half in particular, did very well to make the best of any possession that they were able to gather and with strong runners in all areas they were always in the game and making ground. After a period of intense pressure on the Keyworth line, it was their scrum-half who scooped the ball from the floor, rounded the ruck and crossed from 5m out to level the scores at 15 apiece on 65 minutes.

Four minutes later, disaster struck for Keyworth when a wild pass was intercepted on the St Ives 10m line and run in unopposed under the posts to record the deciding score and secure the win for the visitors 15 – 22. St Ives played a territorial game for the final 10 minutes pushing Keyworth back with some long raking kicks that forced them to attack from deep as they went in search of the score that could take the match into extra time. The visitors defence however, was not prepared to be breached for a third time, with some crunching hits being made that had spectators wincing and Kev Parker wondering about the length of hospital waiting lists for hip replacement operations.

With resolute tackling, St Ives clung on to win in what was an excellent game, played in a great spirit by both sides. A cracking advert for local club rugby! Keyworth were quick to wish their visitors good luck in the next round while they turn their attention back to league action and the mouth-watering trip to Skegness.

On the plus side, the pattern of play in the early stages of the game worked very well but as is often the case, when they tried to expand this direct style, mistakes crept in. The scrum and lineout went well but throwing in needs more work, as players who don’t do it regularly will inevitably struggle to hit their targets every time. Support play could be quicker and there’s insufficient pressure being applied to the opposition 10.

The evergreen Kev Parker was nominated man of the match for some sterling ball carries and big tackles in the loose. Sadly, Newcastle Brown is the not the bolting beer of choice and he struggled to down his pint before most people had returned to work the following week. Adam Budgen did well at hooker in a dominant front-row aided admirably by Kris ‘Chuck’ Norrish and Ben Morrell. Jason Holland stepped up from the seconds and found that the gaps are that little bit smaller and tighter in first team games but he managed well in both attack and defence.

Keyworth were as always, well lead from the front by skipper Ben Ransom, who may want to consider using his bench to greater effect. With 3 substitutes, he had 8 interchanges available but used only 4 at most, although Jack Starr appeared to be coming on and off more times than a harlot’s knickers. In a game where fitness can be a crucial factor, rotating players to give them a short break and refresh them is an important element in a captain’s tactical armoury.

The second XV were unfortunately without a game due to first East Retford and then West Bridgford being unable to muster sufficient numbers to raise a side. Perhaps future fixtures need to be pitted against an entire area, rather than just one quarter of the geographical resource! Explanations available for forwards at Tuesday’s training session, so let’s see you all there!