Rugby union
Kings making a fine early impression

KINGS NORTON maintained their flying start to the Midlands Three West (South) season with a 31-15 victory over Southam at Hopwood Park on Saturday which leaves them with a maximum ten points from two fixtures.

Fresh from their convincing win at Pershore on the opening day, Kings began the game in a confident mood and, after soaking up early Southam pressure, soon put their first points on the board.

Chris Hands led the way when he broke in typical fashion from a maul and made ground before releasing the ball to close support.

Finally, when the ball reached Chris Carlin wide and in space, he raced forwards and drew the Southam defence before classily stepping inside to first score an excellent try and then followed this with a wind-assisted conversion after ten minutes.

From the restart Kings went on the attack and three minutes later Carlin slotted over a penalty when Southam were caught offside.

The visitors then dug deep and forced their way into Kings' territory by using their speedy threequarter line who attacked the Kings' line, forcing a mistake by the home defence which conceded a penalty.

Southam chose to kick for the lineout from where the Ash Lane team defended the catch and drive, however as they attempted to run the ball out of defence Southam stole the ball and scored a simple unconverted try to close the gap to 10-5 with 20 minutes on the clock.

A spell of end to end rugby then came to nothing, although Southam's kick through might have resulted in a second try for them but the ball ran through the dead ball line before Southam's winger could reach it for a touchdown.

Kings eventually broke through and attacked down the left wing, but Jack Fairhurst was high tackled just short of the line.

The guilty player was sin-binned, but Kings were awarded a penalty when a penalty try seemed more appropriate.

With five minutes of the half remaining, Kings' back row Simon Williams finished a move created by Tom Hatfield and Carlin added the extras.

Southam added three points to their score with a penalty before the home side scored their third try through Fairhurst and the reliable Carlin converted to give his side a 24-8 lead at the break.

The second half began with a sin-binning for a second high tackle, this time by Kings' second row Hatfield, and the home side had to defend stoutly for the next ten minutes.

When back to full strength they finally gained a bonus point for their fourth try when scrum half Ken Whitehouse finished off a good spell by the Kings' pack by pouncing upon a loose ball to dive over for a try which Carlin again converted.

Southam then exposed Kings' complacency and replied with a converted try between the posts before the remainder of the second period degenerated into an error-strewn affair as both sides failed to take full advantage of the openings created.

Kings travel to Eccleshall in Staffordshire tomorrow for a first round RFU Midlands Senior Vase clash.

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