Kingdom comes to haunt Lach and Titans
GARY Kingdom held his nerve on the final play of the match to score the try that gave Taunton a nail-biting victory over lacklustre Old Elthamians.
With the Titans one point behind deep in injury time, the full-back elected to run a quick tapped penalty rather than go for a straightforward kick in front of the posts – and the gamble paid off in thrilling fashion as he crashed over for the visitors’ fourth try, the bonus point and the victory.
“We were looking for the drop goal at the end, but to be honest the wind was swirling around and it was too big a risk,” Kingdom said. “Then we got the penalty in front of the posts, I hadn’t kicked that well all afternoon but I saw there was a gap in their defence and I thought I’d have a go. And it came off.
“We are over the moon. To come away from home and secure five points is massive. Elthamians came right back at us in the second half, but our forwards put in a hell of a shift.
“With one minute to go we were on our own line, but we had the courage to go the length of the field, keep the ball and score. The boys deserve massive credit.”
Elthamians have only themselves to blame after a sloppy, error-strewn performance condemned them to their second successive last-minute defeat.
In a poor first half punctuated by the referee’s whistle for countless dropped passes, knock-ons and turnovers, Taunton looked far more threatening in attack and would have been disappointed to only turn round 10-6 ahead after two well-worked tries from winger Freddie Fraser and man-of-thematch flanker Dan Frost.
OEs replied with two penalties from Tom White and Will Robinson.
Although the home side were improved in the second period, they could not hold on to the ball for long enough to build any rhythm and it was Taunton who extended their lead on 50 minutes, when flanker Ratu Vakalutukali forced his way over in the corner.
However, White reduced the deficit with his second penalty and entering the final quarter momentum had swung firmly Elthamians’ way.
On 67 minutes, they pounced on a dropped ball in the Taunton midfield and lock Ian Kench fed winger Dom Lespierre, who raced away for the try which White converted to give them a 16-15 lead.
With just a minute of normal time remaining Taunton were pinned on their own line, but they kept their composure to build through the phases and move the ball the length of the field for Kingdom to take centre stage.
OEs director of rugby Gavin Lach said: “We weren’t at the races today, it’s as simple as that. We came to life a bit in the second half, but the bottom line is you can’t play for only 20 minutes and expect to beat a side as good as Taunton.”