Kingswood’s 1st XV continued their impressive run in the National Champions Trophy after securing a hard-fought win against Eton College in the quarter final.
Kingswood started brightly with some strong driving play from a dominant pack resulting in a well-worked early score, but, with Eton responding almost immediately, the game was tied at 7-7 midway through the first half. A sustained period of Kingswood pressure then forced a penalty and Kingswood went into the interval 10-7 ahead.
Shortly after half-time, Eton levelled again, before further Kingswood pressure brought a second try and a 17-10 lead. The key period of the game then followed as Eton bombarded the Kingswood line with wave after wave of attack.
Kingswood’s defensive effort was outstanding and, after more than 10 minutes of pressure, Eton were only able to come away with a single penalty. This enabled Kingswood to regain territorial control from the resulting kick-off and they closed the game out with a second penalty.
To the delight of the large home crowd, and 1st XV coach, James Matthews, the final whistle followed shortly after with Kingswood securing a 20-13 victory that was just reward for their resilience throughout the match.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the effort of the entire squad today. Eton put us under real pressure in that second half and it is testament to the character of this group that they were able to hold firm,” he said after the match.
“We were missing a couple of key players but the 2nd team boys that came in all stepped up and, to beat a school of the stature of Eton College, is naturally a fantastic result for an extremely talented and hard-working group of players.”
Kingswood will find out who they play in the semi-final when the draw is made on Friday. The fixture will take place during the week commencing 20th November.