Kingsbridge RFC display resilience on the road

KINGSBRIDGE RFC 1st XV showed great resilience to bounce back from their slow start away at Newton Abbot on Saturday, November 7.

The All Whites were yet to lose at Rackerhayes this season prior to kick-off and so when they stormed into a 10-0 lead, travelling supporters may have feared the worst.

For Kings, the scrum and lineout have “functioned really well so far this season” in the eyes of head coach Dan Gyles, but they “didn’t have a platform to play off” in the early stages here.

Losing out at the lineout cost them the first try with Newton driving Angus Carruthers over before, mere moments later, Jacob Forey showed fleet of foot to battle through in the other corner.

Scrum-half Lawrence White missed both kicks and despite being firmly in the ascendancy, this was as good as it would get for the home side.

Following a frantic back-and-forth period, Kingsbridge begin to piece together phase after phase.

Newton captain Alex Gale was sin-binned for a high-tackle in the redzone and from the resulting penalty, Kings captain Henry Rich was able to burrow over.

One try swiftly became two and it was Toby Redwood who dotted down on the final play of the half.

With the conversions off target, the two sides were tied at 10 points apiece at the turnaround.

Gale had only been back on the field of play for a matter of seconds when he got on the wrong side of the referee again.

Illegally recovering the ball inside the five-metre line saw the red mist descend and with the skipper given his marching orders, the awarding of a penalty try rubbed further salt in the All Whites’ wounds.

This was an invitation for Kingsbridge to pounce, especially after Newton lost the other prop, the other Gale, Jacob, to injury in the first half.

Stuart Winzer profited from a driving maul as the visitors looked to turn the screw.

Kingsbridge set up camp in the Newton half and as a sense of panic set in for the hosts, Max Goodwin slid into the corner thanks to great work from Dan Jarvis who himself was then rewarded with the final try of the afternoon.

Jack Winzer was up quick to charge down a kick and he unselfishly moved it on for Jarvis to run home just outside of the posts.

Fullback Oli Rowdon converted one of the three second-half scores to make it 34-10 to Kings at the final whistle.

“Henry Rich played well today and led from the front, he and the other leaders on the pitch were able to help solve the issues,” commented Gyles.

He added: “We knew it would be tough coming here and it was. We were worried at times, initially, but what this group of lads is showing is that they’ve really bonded as a team now.”

On a more general note, Gyles was not only “Delighted with the win” but also “Delighted with how we’re moving forward after seven games.”

They’ve had a lot of travelling and have won six fixtures already, with a break on the 14th before the “big one against [unbeaten leaders] Paignton at home which we’ll look forward to” on Saturday, November 21.