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KILBURN COSMOS 17 - OLD ACTONIANS 21

Kilburn missed a great opportunity to knock over a top 4 Herts Middlesex 1 opponent, conceding a late try to suffer a 21-17 defeat to Old Actonians at Tiverton Green on Saturday.

A lack lustre start again cost the Cosmos, who were suffering from a lack of confidence after the previous two defeats and the unavailability of key players. Old Actonians capitalised on the lack of commitment from the Cosmos from the kick off, scoring two tries in the first 10 minutes to open up a 14-0 lead. The first try came from a miss-field of an Actonians bomb and the second was just poor defence from Kilburn who let the Actonians forwards charge through the heart of their defence which led to a try under the posts.
The Cosmos were staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat but as expected they turned the game around with a far more committed display for the remaining 70 minutes.
They hit back almost immediately with halfback Hayden Cochrane darting down the blindside from a scrum inside the Cosmos half, finding space and then drawing the fullback and offloading to Cosmos fullback Chris Coane to score.
Actonians continued to dominate possession and territory but the Cosmos defence had stiffened up, especially in the midfield where centres Boyd Davis and Tane Taitoko relished the opportunity to repeatedly smash their opponents.
As the first half wore on Cosmos began to get the upper hand and a brief foray into the Actonians 22 saw Boyd Davis get on the outside of his opposite number to score a try to bring Kilburn right back into the game. This was followed closely by a try to his centre partner Taitoko, who took a clever in pass from winger Andy Allan after a poor Actonians kick, to race away to score and give the Cosmos a 17-14 lead which they took into the half-time break.
A feature of the end of the first half was the dominance of the Kilburn scrum, who have been struggling all season to hold their own.
The Cosmos were confident of holding on to their lead in the second half but injuries had taken their toll with hooker Jon Church and wing James Thorpe forced off during the first half and wing Andy Allan suffering from an ankle injury which saw him last only 5 mins of the second half.
The second half was an absorbing battle with Actonians totally dominating possession and field position so much that the Cosmos were unable to get our of their half for the entire 40 minutes.
But it looked like the Cosmos would hold on for the win due to total commitment on defence despite their inability to get out of their half. This was until an Actonians kick with less than 10 mins to go, which looked for all money to be heading dead in goal which would have given the Cosmos possession back on the halfway line, took a Shane Warne off break and bounced out only a couple metres from the Cosmos line. This was the killer blow and although Cosmos again looked like they might survive the pressure was too much with a delayed pass to fly half Dave Alana forcing him to scramble a kick just in front of his own posts. Unfortunately the alert Actonians backs were up quickly and the fullback charged down the kick, regathered and scored under the posts to give Actonians the win.

It was an unfortunate finish for the Cosmos who battled back brilliantly as usual but suffered again from their poor start. It was a huge improvement from their poor display against West London but the Cosmos must win these tight games to move up the league table.

It was a good all round effort from the Cosmos and thanks must be given to veterans Dan Loftus and Rohan McNaughtan for their efforts off the bench in their first game of the season for the 1st XV.
Second row Gavin Smales, who tackled fiercely all day and charged hard with the ball in hand, was awarded the most valuable player, followed closely by fellow second row Tom O’Connor and halfback Hayden Cochrane, who had his best game yet for the Cosmos. Centres Davis and Taitoko were also instrumental in keeping the Cosmos in the game with their punishing defence and powerful running.

click here to read Actonians match report

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2006/2007