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KILBURN COSMOS 10 - HITCHIN 10

Kilburn will be kicking themselves yet again after squandering numerous opportunities to post a comfortable victory and ending up with a hard fought 10 all draw with Hitchin in their Herts Middlesex Div 1 game at Wormwood Scrubs on Saturday.

For once Kilburn was switched on from the kickoff and dominated the opening period. The forwards were fired up and secured good possession for the powerful Kilburn backline to attack through the midfield with strong running centres Boyd Davis and Tane Taitoko punching holes in the Hitchin defence. Kilburn spent a lot of time close to the Hitchin tryline but could not quite get across for the try, a penalty to Chris Coane the only reward for an excellent opening quarter.
The rest of the first half saw numerous breaks by Davis and Taitoko that were not converted into tries. Either the final pass was given to the wrong player or at the wrong time or the player with the ball took it too far and play broke down. Credit must be given to the Hitchin defence for their excellent cover defence and especially to the Hitchin midfield who managed to make last ditch tackles on the powerful Kilburn centres when they looked like breaking through.
Kilburn looked like paying a heavy price for butchering at least 3 clear try scoring opportunities in the first half when Hitchin took a penalty kick during a rare foray into the Kilburn half. The kick bounced off the upright into the ingoal where it was lost by the Cosmos and pounced on by the chasing Hitchin backs for the try which was easily converted.
With only a couple of minutes before halftime it looked like Kilburn would be behind despite being easily the better team. However the Cosmos showed how they should have been playing with the forwards winning the ball from the restart, driving up field and giving go forward ball to the backs where Horsfall gave a clever short ball to Taitoko on the burst who ran 40 metres to score the try, which was converted by Chris Coane.
This gave Kilburn a slender 10-7 lead at the break but they should have been comfortably in front.

The second half was a lot tighter contest with Kilburn unable to deliver good ball to their dangerous backline. The Hitchin forwards lifted their game and kept the ball in tight and controlled possession.
Kilburn had one early try scoring chance which would have taken them clear but it was bombed again due to poor finishing and excellent cover defence.
After that it was a hard slog by both teams. Kilburn did themselves no favours by being on the receiving end of a hefty penalty count which continually delivered possession and position to Hitchin. Kilburn survived 10 minutes with 14 men when lock John Cameron was harshly sin-binned and soon after his return Hitchin went down to 14 as tempers began to flare but Kilburn were unable to take advantage of the situation.
In the end Kilburn were lucky to get away with the draw as they gave away 4 penalties within easy range of their posts but the Hitchin kicker could only convert one of these opportunities which tied the scores at 10 – 10 which is how the game ended.

Once again Kilburn frustrated themselves and their supporters by not clinching a victory that was theirs for the taking. Kilburns inability to put the same team on the paddock week after week and develop combinations seems to be the biggest problem for the team who are putting in the effort for little reward.
This game saw the Cosmos field their 8th different combination at scrum-half/fly-half which is the key to how the team plays.
Kilburn also fielded 4 players making their 1st XV debuts, hooker Chris Protherough, flanker Ashley Griffiths and wings Caleb Willis and Perez Labort. All had strong games and hopefully we will see more of them at this level. Also Jared Horsfall finally made a rare appearance for the 1st XV, showing glimpses of the power and strong defence that makes him the most dangerous player in the Cosmos and hopefully this will be the first of many games in the 1st XV.
 
Tane Taitoko was judged MVP for his powerful running and strong defence, followed by Chris Protherough in his debut at hooker who had a strong game around the field with centre Boyd Davis and flanker Del Bousfield close behind.

TEAM

2006/2007