Keyworth welcomed Thorney to Widmerpool in the first round of the Midlands Junior Vase in what was to be a fantastic, close fought game. The game culminated an excellent weekend of festivities, with Keyworth celebrating their fortieth anniversary.
Unlike the previous week; Keyworth started in a slow and ill-disciplined fashion, with their heads clearly still in the changing rooms. Thorney took full advantage and played with a high intensity, forcing Keyworth to miss tackles and give away numerous penalties. This enabled Thorney to work the ball deep into the Keyworth 22. From there they used their heavy artillery front row to open some holes in the Keyworth defence. Eventually, the pressure told and the Thorney loose head prop barged his way over from close range. The conversion was missed.
After this early setback, Keyworth finally settled themselves and began to get a foothold in the game. After about 20 minutes gone, Keyworth at last had a sustained period of possession. Some hard yards were well won by the forwards, allowing the backs to some room to find the holes in the Thorney defence; as well as the team managing to collectively keep their composure whilst Thorney lost theirs.
Having worked their way into the Thorney 22, a Keyworth attack was halted with a high tackle on Greg Mills. Needing to establish themselves in the game, the kick at goal was taken. Enter Golden Boot; Connor Mee. Continuing his run of good form from the tee, the kick perfectly bisected the posts.
Keyworth became a bit ragged again for the rest of half, and ill-discipline began to creep back into the performance. Towards the end the half Keyworth were to feel the referee’s wrath. Having followed his own kick, Connor Mee was adjudged to have obstructed the Thorney full back who himself had kicked ahead. For this, Connor was sent to the naughty step for 10 minutes.
Half time score 5-3 in favour of Thorney.
The half time team talk was used to remind the players that if we want positive results then we must play our own game, as opposed to trying to beat the opposition at their own game, as well as needing to stay composed and keep the ref on our side.
With those words fresh in their ears, Keyworth began the second half well. The first twenty minutes were closely fought with neither team really gaining the upper hand nor the try lines being threatened.
Arguably the key point in the second half occurred when Thorney’s tight head prop was sent to the sin bin for stamping on a player not involved in a ruck. Using their man advantage, Keyworth kept possession and worked their way to the Thorney line. A penalty was conceded and the ball was kicked to touch.
Knowing that Thorney had struggled to contain any driving mauls, and that they would not be able to challenge for any middle lineout balls due to being a lifter short, vice-captain Nick Martin called the lineout to himself. The driving maul was set and surged towards the line. Thorney managed to start wheeling the maul infield, leaving the blind side open. This was an invitation Adam Bugden couldn’t refuse and charged his way through the winger and over the line. The conversion was made by Connor Mee. Keyworth were now buoyant and went back on the attack. Again, the ball was worked into the Thorney 22, and a penalty was awarded to Keyworth due to Thorney being offside.
At this point, there was a small scuffle in the backs (I’m assuming it was over which hair product is best), and both teams were lucky not to lose any players to sin binning’s or sending’s off. The penalty still stood and the kick at goal was chosen. Once again, Connor Mee made no mistake from the tee.
Final score Keyworth 13 – Thorney 5 with what was largely an excellent team performance. Special mention should go to Jack Newton who had arguably his best game in a Keyworth shirt so far.