RUGBY: Kesteven miss out on place in NLD Shield final
Notts, Lincs, Derbys Shield
Semi-final
Kesteven 5
Matlock 40
Kesteven failed in their quest to reach the NLD Shield final for a second successive year at Woodnook on Saturday.
The early exchanges were pretty even with the home team perhaps edging the possession. The Matlock defence was resolute and shut down the home attack pretty effectively.
After 15 minutes, Matlock made an initial beak and got into the Kesteven 22 for the first time. They won a scrum close to the home line and turned the scrum to free up the ball for their flanker to go over for the opening score. The fly half judged the tricky wind to perfection to add the conversion.
The visitors added to their tally a couple of minutes later with their second try – a straightforward effort which saw them run in behind, after swift hands released their left wing who scored at the posts. The simple conversion took the score to 14-0.
These two scores and injury setbacks spurred Kesteven on and they continued to attack. The Matlock side used illegal methods to stop them, and they had two men sent to sin bin in quick succession for persistent off side.
This should have settled Kesteven but Matlock scored an amazing try. Kesteven had an attacking scrum on the Matlock line but the visitors stole the ball and quickly moved it out to the left wing who ran the length of the field to score. The kick was good.
Ks made the extra men count and forced another attacking position. This time they got their reward as Adam Draper dived in for the try.
The visitors then added a fourth try just as half time came. Although the 26-5 scoreline did not accurately reflect the half, it did show that Matlock were clinical in their finishing.
Kesteven had the benefit of the wind in the second half and Parker was able to put in some useful kicks. Matlock though were able to repel all advances which came from some fine breaks by Goodrich and Jepson.
In the pack, Sayle enjoyed a fine game, dominating the line-out, but in the end it was Matlock who added to the scoresheet. With some 20 minutes left, they got the ball out on the left wing again, rounded the home defence to run clear and score at the posts.
Matlock’s stand-off finished off the scoring with a fine individual try by chipping over the on-rushing defence and collecting the ball to crash over. The extra kicking points were added to the final two tries.
Kesteven: Wood, Aspinall, Cartwright, Goodrich, Whittaker, Parker, Draper, Osborne, Sheardown, Purvis, Pert, Vincent, Webster, Payne, Sayle. Reps: Jepson, Odams, Cole.
