It was a chilly cloudy day as we faced Dudley Kingswinford.
At kickoff we instantly gave DK an opportunity when we gave away a penalty. The resulting lineout was fumbled giving us the scrum. We then pushed them into their half. We gave them back the ball and a penalty after a high tackle. We defended well though and kept them out of our 22.
The referee missed 2 knockons by DK and they punched a hole through our wing defence to run in a try. 5-0.
An excellent kick at the restart saw the ball pushed into touch but then lost the lineout and knocked the ball on to give them a scrum. We did well and got the ball back before running it into touch. We gave away scrum after failing to use it in a maul. Luckily DK knocked it on and we got a scrum in their 22. A high tackle saw us get a penalty but DK ripped it out of the maul and kicked it free. A suspect call gave DK the lineout but we managed to win this and we pushed back into their 22. Unfortunately we couldn't capitalise on the strong position and gave back possession after a fumble. Referee called half time. 5-0.
We restarted the second half and came back with renewed strength. After DK played the ball on the ground we ran it into their 22 before being pushed into touch. We managed to regained the ball but the referee was insistent on slowing the game down! DK got the ball back and pushed back into our half. After a flurry of penalties DK ran in another try. 10-0.
We restarted and stalled their maul giving us the scrum but gave a penalty away after the hooker had his foot up! DK then pushed back into our 22. Suddenly we made a huge break and ran it all the way back to their 22! At the lineout we gained the ball back and pushed over for a converted try. 10-7.
DK restarted but didn't kick 10 and we took the scrum. We knocked it on, then they did, keeping our scrum busy. We then gave them a penalty for early engagement. We defended well and kept them away but we just couldn't put any more points on the board as the game was continuously hampered by penalties. The referee finally called time. Full time score: DK 10 - 7 Worcester.

It was a closely contested match that was marred by inconsistent refereeing. We played some excellent rugby but really need to work on the simple passes and catching that let us down today. We had too many knockons than we really should have in all honesty and we need to not panic pass without looking. If we were allowed to play a more fluid match then this could have been a very different score! On a plus though, we did see some good rugby and it was an exciting match against a strong team. Looking forward to the next match.