Trinity 55 KCS Old Boys 24
Gerry Murphy reports on our first game of 2025.

The visitors conceded two penalties early on and Trinity had chances to run. Some careless passes meant that the ball was dropped, and openings wasted but a third penalty gave fly-half George Kimmins the chance to open the scoring, and he obliged to put the hosts ahead after 2 minutes. Both sides were prepared to play running rugby and there was plenty of to and fro for the next 20 minutes. Quinn Singh made one of his surging runs for Trinity and Khalil Alleyne produced one of his classic turnovers. When Kings were offside at a ruck Kimmins found touch in the 22 but the line out was lost. The home scrum looked to have the edge. When a good line out take and driving maul led to a penalty opportunity 10 metres out Trinity lined up for a move to charge the line, but this did not work out as planned and Kings cleared the danger. Kean Orchard was prominent in Trinity’s subsequent attacks but, despite having plenty of possession, they were not turning this into points. A big scrum by Kings caught them unawares and the visitors surged forward. They had a chance to tie the scores when Trinity were offside but missed the kick.

Trinity now sparked into life and had a purple patch. It started with a simple kick for Kimmins in front of the posts when Kings were offside on the half-hour. Mids followed this up with sound tackling from the kick-off and then a solid scrum gave them quick ball which they used well to spread play right and find winger Tom Fairclough who sprinted down the line and finished well, handing off the last tackler before touching down in the corner. Kimmins’ excellent kick made it 13-0. There was no let-up when the visitors were penalised in midfield and Kimmins again found touch on the left. A quick tap-back by Farooq Agbalaya meant solid forward possession and a succession of “hammer” moves which ended with Alleyne scything his way through the defence for another score. Scarcely had Kings kicked off when they lost control of the ball and were back in their 22 and penalised again. Olly Hubbard was quick to tap and unload to Orchard who was unstoppable. Kimmins converted both tries. Trinity were now rampant and in a scintillating move with McEvilly carrying and driving well they seemed certain to add another try but were penalised on a technicality in front of the posts. Half-time came and poor Kings who had been well in the game for half an hour were 27 points down.

Kings started the second half determined to reduce the arrears and it seemed they would do so when Fumme, their powerful No.8 broke through and set up a ruck under the posts. However, the promising quick possession was then fumbled and as the ball went loose Orchard picked up and sprinted the length of the field to score. Kimmins’ exquisite kick added to the visitors’ agony. On top of this Fumme was injured and many a side would have thrown in the towel at this stage. Not Kings! They rallied and won a penalty on the 22 from which they produced some excellent handling to put the winger in in the corner and open their account with a converted try to make it 34-7. Trinity came back with another 7 pointer when Farooq won a line out and the ball was moved in classic style at pace along the line for winger Ollie Wilcox to speed over in the corner. A yellow card made the hill even steeper for the visitors and when they were again indecisive in midfield Orchard picked up to charge to the line again and complete his hat-trick. Kimmins converted. 48-7. Credit to Kings who kept running and scored two further tries as Trinity suffered two yellow cards before the end. Mids were not finished, however, as McEvilly again showed his paces (though playing at second row, he was released by the option to go for four-man line outs) to shift play to the left where some excellent play between Ben Telfer and Hubbard found a good platform in the corner. Adam Stammers go the touchdown and Kimmins, from the touchline, completed a spectacular sequence of 9/9 kicks with another beauty. Kings had the last word as they pressed the home line and, after several Trinity infringements, were awarded a penalty try and a deserved bonus point. Every Trinity player was involved, and mention must be made of the uncompromising tackling of Archie Mc Millan,Tom Wilcox and Harry Wilson, the vital contributions of Ali Hall, Alfie Lamb and Tim Jupp in the front row and the powerful surges of Fuad Agbalaya. Coach Matt Higgins and skipper Wilson will be well pleased with this determined and cohesive display by a team who showed some real class in an entertaining match.

Match Report: Gerry Murphy
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Match Photos: Pete Filewood FLICKR PAGE
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