Kenilworth 37 Nuneaton 40

The Nuns carried in their strong league form with a 40-37 victory over Kenilworth on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Warwickshire Cup.
Kenilworth, who currently play in the league the Nuns have just been promoted to, offered a formidable challenge and in a game where the lead changed hands four times in the last twenty minutes.

Both teams fielded sides with changes from their last league games. The Nuns gave 1st team debuts to Oli Sharp at second row and Ben Stewart at full back. Louis Addleton, Phil Ryan and Arron Skyrme made their first appearances of the season in the squad and Finn Aherne returned from his loan at Newbold to have a telling impact.

The Nuns started with a wind at their back and in the first minute Kenilworth received a yellow card to their prop for something said to the referee.

The Nuns were first to break the deadlock when on 11 minutes when, after some pressure, Ben Dawes burrowed over for a try which was unconverted.

Just a couple of minutes later Travis Bennett-Allcock picked up his first try after breaking through and beating a number of defenders from distance. Lucas Brindley converted to move the lead to 0-12 after 13mins.

The game progressed with both teams giving as good as they got. Kenilworth grew in confidence and were next to score on 26 and then 36 minutes with tries from their centre but both unconverted leaving the score 10-12.

The Nuns did finish the half well when, after turning the ball over on the Kenilworth 22m, Harry Beverley crossed for a converted try on the stroke of half time to extend their lead to 10-19.

The second half started with the hosts putting the Nuns under pressure, using the wind to pin them deep in their territory. They got their first try of the half on 43 minutes when dotting down in the corner which was well up graded to bring the score to 17-19.

From the restart, the Nuns ran the ball back and with a high tackle Kenilworth’s prop received his second yellow card of the game meaning a red and so they were reduced to 14 men. The game also proceeded with uncontested scrums which didn’t give the Nuns a platform to try and gain some dominance in this area.

Nuns got their fourth try of the game in the 49th minute when, after some recycled possession around the Kens 22m, Ben Kirby picked and raced around the edge defenders to cross with Brindley adding the conversion, 17-26.

The hosts came straight back into the game with Nuneaton failing to deal with the kick off. When under pressure on their line a clearance kick was charged down and the home team got on the ball to register a try which was converted to move the score to 24-26 on 52 minutes.

After a series of penalties and pressure Kenilworth scored again with the conversion hitting the post but they took the lead for the first time, 29-26 after 60mins.

Maintaining their pressure on the Nuns, Kenilworth used the wind to pin them back and after a couple more penalties they took the option of a straight forward kick at goal to extend the lead to 32-26 on 64 minutes.

But the Nuns showed their resilience to come straight back. From the kick off Kenilworth kicked the ball clear but to the waiting Bennett-Allcock who fielded just inside his own half. He then set off on one of his weaving runs and, like so many times this season, he sped of bumping off and evading half a dozen tackles to score a fine individual try and his 20th of the season in competitive games. Brindley converted to retake the lead 32-33 on 66 minutes.

On 72 minutes Martin Wood picked up a yellow card for a high tackle and the Nuns were under some pressure but defending resolutely. Kenilworth again made the pressure tell and they crossed in the corner for their 6th try but crucially the conversion was missed. Leaving the score 37-33 with a couple of minutes to play.

From the kick off the Nuns earned a penalty in the host 22m. They took a set scrum and built some pressure before a number of penalties were awarded. Finally, their perseverance paid off when Finn Aherne burrowed over for the 7th and winning try to much celebration. George Wallis drop kicked the conversion and the final whistle went for a 37-40 victory.

Post match, Head Coach Huw Thomas added “The lads have worked their socks off today and shown a never say die attitude. We’ve come to a side in the league above and gone toe to toe with them for 80 plus minutes. With a lot of changes to the squad from recent weeks we’ve seen that we have some boys who can make the step up and give us more options going into next season, but for now we can enjoy the next round of the cup and still have more silverware to play for.”

1 James Redman 2 Louis Addleton 3 Ben Dawes 4 Oli Sharp 5 James Lloyd 6 Elliott Brown 7 George Wallis 8 Martin Wood 9 Ben Kirby 10 Lucas Brindley 11 Travis Bennett-Allcock 12 Tom Eales 13 Harry Beverley 14 Tak Chawadya 15 Ben Stewart; 16 Finn Aherne 17 Phil Ryan 18 Arron Skyrme