Kidderminster Carolians 40, Moseley Oak 5

KIDDERMINSTER Carolians notched up a fifth-straight win by powering into the final of North Midlands Shield with an impressive win over Moseley Oak.

The Marlpool Lane outfit have a chance to seal the silverware they last held aloft in 2006 and will now face either Bridgnorth or Malvern.

KCs recorded their biggest win of the campaign against their rivals from the Midlands Division Two West (North), who are currently third in the table.

Despite being up against a physically imposing opposition, the hosts were happy to use their speed to run at Moseley’s forwards at every opportunity.

Jordan Hatch’s good play allowed Laurence Hughes to touch down and open the scoring under the posts and Chris Pinner added the conversion.

Moseley replied with a try of their own but they could not stem them Kidderminster tide, who exposed the visitors’ weakness at lineout and Rob Delahay finished off a strong drive by George Morgan.

Pinner converted to give Carolians a 14-5 lead at the break.

But they ran riot in a one-sided second half, with Rhys Pritchard setting the tone as he scored in the corner.

Kidderminster stretched their lead to 26-5 when Morgan was sent under the posts for a try, which was converted, by Pritchard.

KCs finally put the game to bed with two tries in the last three minutes.

First, good pressing on Moseley’s line forced them into a desperate kick out of defence which only found Hatch just outside their 22 and he ran through their bedraggled defence to dab down under the posts.

Then a Josh Winfield chip was well gathered by replacement lock Jack Tunstall and he linked with fellow second row Chris Baldwin whose pass put in Pritchard, again under the posts, for his second try.

Both scores were easily converted by Pinner to make it five out of six successful kicks for the scrum half.

This was another impressive team performance by KCs but they will have to do it all again next week, this time at Billesley Common, when the two sides meet in their league clash and they will have to make sure they do not let their standards drop.