Kingston’s rugby firsts suffered a second straight defeat, losing 24-8 to Brunel.
Marc Williams
Tensions ran high as Kingston’s rugby first team suffered a second successive home defeat at the hands of Brunel’s seconds, losing 24-8.
The away side were lucky to escape having a man sent off in the first half following a dangerously high tackle on Kingston’s Craig Felston.
Kingston had bright spells of play and some high-quality work from their backs throughout the game, but the inability to finish chances and a poor refereeing performance cost them the game.
“I think as a team we let ourselves down massively today, we let our frustrations show too much. Unfortunately, sometimes the referee’s decisions do influence the game, but you have to rise above it and in the end, to be fair to them, Brunel played the better rugby,” said Kingston coach Arran Cruickshanks.
An early lead
Early pressure from Brunel gave them the first score when Solomon Ocquaye ran through the defence for a try. Kingston replied quickly with a Felston penalty, but a powerful finish from Nick Packham meant Brunel went into the half leading, with the score 12-5.
Kingston had good pressure throughout the first half and could have scored on many occasions.
The home side were let down by their final passes not going to hand after frequent good work along their back line.
“When we put some phases together we looked effective and dangerous. That’s probably the most frustrating thing about today. We are capable of beating teams like we played today and we will just have to work harder in training in order to do that,” commented Cruiskshanks.
Fiery second half
The second half saw more hostility between the teams with several hard tackles and questionable decisions from the officials. Kingston continued to play well and were duly rewarded when Jake Stinson finished off the move of the match for the home side’s only try.
Brunel’s brute force and solid lineout saw them add two more tries late on and, despite a spirited effort from Kingston, they could not break their opponents down.
Kingston will hope for a better result next week when they play the University of Chichester’s men’s second team.