Kingston rugby easily defeated by Surrey

Kingston rugby men’s suffer a  heavy Varsity defeat to their rivals Surrey losing 45-7 at Surrey sports centre.

Jamie Elliott

Kingston men’s rugby firsts put up a valiant fight when they lost 45-7 as they failed to overcome their powerful rivals, Surrey at Varsity 2013.

Despite their rivalry loss, KU captain David Holby remained positive in defeat, admitting that it was not about winning this one match but we should look at the positives of their season.

“We’re obviously very upset that we’ve lost today but today it is about what we’ve done this season, the team we’ve had and what we have done with the team. At the start of the season we got wrote off to not make much but we were in contention right up until the last few games of the league to get promoted. I’m really impressed with the boys and a fantastic performance from everyone,” said Holby.

Surrey struck first

The match started brightly as both of the team’s kicked off to a loud atmosphere at the Surrey sports centre however it was Surrey who dealt the first blow.

Following a lot of early possession and resilience from the Kingston defence, Surrey broke through the defence for a try within the first 10 minutes but failed to capitalise on the conversion.

The match then became a bit scrappy with the referee bringing about a lot of stoppages, one of which was a penalty kick to Surrey which was quickly tucked away to take the score to 8-0.

Eventually another Surrey try was scored by James Klash as he surged past the helpless KU defence.

Sean Cassey then added another shortly after to put the home side in a commanding position going into the break.

After the break

The second half was much of the same as Kingston struggled to force Surrey back but despite their valiant efforts they could not hold them forever, James Klash adding his second try of the match.

The visitors refused to die and began to fight back as Dan Phoenix scored a powerful try to give Kingston something to cheer about, Craig Felston putting away the resulting conversion kick.

However the home side then crushed any chance of a comeback by rallying to score a further two tries.

Despite their rivalry, Surrey captain Andrew Grant admitted that Kingston were unlucky to lose.

“Kingston played very well. Early doors they were very strong and they were unlucky to lose, well played Kingston.”

At the end of the match and rugby season, KU captain David Holby was full of praise for his third year teammates, O’Leary, Stevens, Sims, Holland, Stinson, who would be leaving the team and he wished them all the best for their futures after their time at Kingston.