Despite errors, Kingswood prevail against game Stirling side

KINGSWOOD completed a comfortable 29-5 victory over Stirling in their schools rugby fixture in East London at the weekend.

For the most part, Kingswood were comfortably the dominant side, but were unable to ruthlessly put a game Stirling side to the sword.

Nevertheless, they will be happy with their performance, particularly in defence, as well as elements of their attacking game.

Kingswood started the match brightly. Early pressure on Stirling resulted in a penalty, which Cameron Hertz goaled from the 10m line. From the kick-off, Kingswood pressure allowed Josh Shelley to break free from the halfway line and he cantered over for an easy try, which was converted by Hertz.

From this point, the game settled into somewhat of a stalemate. Kingswood produced all the running, but were unable to release their final runner after breaking the Stirling line. Furthermore, Kingswood were repeatedly penalised at both the scrums and rucks, so the majority of possession was held by Stirling. But they were kept at bay by some fantastic Kingswood defence.

Kingswood continued to make the most of their meagre possession. Promising breaks by Mark Webber, Davron Cameron and Fanie van der Westhuizen were all thwarted by some stubborn Stirling defence.

The visitors, however, were rewarded on the stroke of half time. A wonderful break by Shelley, who had a commanding game at flyhalf, led to a try in the corner by Ezra Mager.

Hertz kicked the conversion from the touchline to put Kingswood 17-0 up at the break.

The second half was a mirror of the first. Kingswood would break, only to be stopped by the Stirling defence and then penalised in the ruck. In all, 42 penalties were conceded by Kingswood, an area that will be of some concern.

Stirling were again able to dominate possession and territory, but Kingswood's defence was too strong for them. When Stirling did eventually score, it was from an error in a Kingswood defensive lineout.

The remainder of the half belonged to Kingswood, though. Jonathan Amadi was released on the left, and produced a wonderful solo run to score and Mager wrapped up the scoring in the right-hand corner after quick distribution by the backs put him through.