Norton give leaders a fright (From Redditch Advertiser)

Norton give leaders a fright

8:00am Tuesday 12th March 2013 in Local Sport

Old Leamingtonians 16, Kings Norton 13

KINGS Norton pushed Midlands Division Three West (South) leaders Old Leamingtons all the way and earned a bonus point for their efforts in Warwickshire.

The Hopwood based side had been leading 13-6 early in the second half, only to agoninsingly lose out thanks to two late tries.

But there was no doubting Kings Norton had produced an excellent display and were unforunate not to win the match, which had been concluded mistakenly five minutes early by the referee.

Norton sprang out of the blocks in determined fashion from the kick-off and soon took the lead when Chris Carlin set up Jack Fairhurst, whose speed took him over the line to touch down in the left hand corner.

Leamingtonians hit back strongly and replied with a penalty.

But Kings were in no mood to concede further points and worked their socks off to contain an over-confident Old Leamingtonian side who were forced into making regular mistakes.

Tom Hatfield with Ben Boyce in close support made a couple of good runs for the away team, who despite losing their young fly half Jack Barwick on 27 minutes to the sin bin went further ahead from a Carlin long range penalty.

The always dangerous home side almost scored just before half-time after good work by their backs only for the score to be ruled out because of a forward pass.

The host side regrouped at half-time and a penalty saw them close within two points of the lead.

Kings went down to 14 men following the second sin binning for too much back chatting to the referee but despite the setback they extended their lead.

Ben Boyce crashed over for a try after impressive play at a lineout followed by a powerful catch and drive.

Norton then weathered a Leamingtonians barrage but the hosts scored an unconverted try to make it 13-11.

A second try late on saw the home team edge ahead decisively.

Kings pushed for a late score but were denied their chance when the referee called full-time early.

Norton are at home on Saturday to Division side Kidderminster Carolians in the quarter final of the North Midlands Shield (3pm ko) but with injuries and unavailability will struggle to field their strongest team.