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KILBURN COSMOS 17 - OLD MILLHILLIANS 18

A stirring second half comeback by Kilburn just failed to snatch victory from Old Millhillians in the Herts/Middlesex Div I fixture at Tiverton Green on Saturday afternoon, with the Cosmos going down 18-17.

The Cosmos were quietly confident heading into the match after being able to select their strongest squad of the season and playing in front of a large home crowd in their new Cricklewood Crown sponsored jerseys.

However the match could not have started any worse for Kilburn as they lost their captain at the kick-off to a calf injury and then conceded a penalty within the first 3 minutes, which was duly slotted by the Millhillians fly-half to make it 3-0.

Millhillians kept the Cosmos on the backfoot the entire first half, camping in the Cosmos 22 and using their big forward pack to dominate proceedings. Despite adding another penalty in the 20th minute Millhillians just could not find a way though the resolute Kilburn defence, especially in the midfield where centres Boyd Davis and Tane Taitoko repeatedly smashed their opposite numbers. Loose forwards Scott Aitken and Del Bousfield continually put their bodies on the line to deny certain tries and it looked like Cosmos would go into the break only 6–0 down having absorbed a huge amount of pressure, until a well placed kick by the Millhillians fly-half in the dying minutes of the first half was not taken cleanly and Millhillians pounced to score a converted try and take a well deserved 13-0 lead at the break.

A fired-up Kilburn came out in the 2nd half and fly-half Chris Garvey was finally able to get some good ball out to the powerful centres Taitoko and Davis who made punishing runs through the midfield putting Millhillians under pressure and acting captain Scott Aitken capitalised showing a great right foot step to cut back against a wall of Millhillians defenders and score near the posts which was converted by Garvey to make it 13-7. Kilburn continued to apply pressure and the tiring Millhillians started to give away penalties as they struggled to keep up with the pace of the Cosmos and Garvey kicked a penalty to close the score to 13-10 with 15 mins to go.
Kilburn continued to attack, looking for the winning try but loose passes and dropped ball halted promising raids and Millhillians took advantage scoring an excellent try out on the wing, which was unconverted, to stretch their lead to 18-10.
Kilburn refused to throw in the towel and Taitoko was breaking through every time he touched the ball but it took until the 79th minute until replacement winger Scott Perkins capitalised on another Taitoko break to score in the corner, magnificently converted by Garvey from the sideline to bring the score to 18-17.
Kilburn were dominating proceedings with their running rugby but left their run too late and the match ended before the Cosmos could score the winning try. It was a committed 80 minute effort by the entire Kilburn team who finished on top but bad handling and unfamiliar combinations hampered their performance.
Del Bousfield was named man of the match followed closely by Scott Aitken and Tane Taitoko.

The Cosmos will be looking to bounce back this coming weekend with an away fixture versus Verulamians.

TEAM

2006/2007