By Graham Cox
Six converted tries, four of them in the first period, saw champions Kent to a 42-5 victory over Hampshire in the opening round of Division 1 of the 2025 Bill Beaumont County Championship.
The host county, bidding for a third successive title, controlled every facet of the game at Broad Walk, home of Charlton Park, denying their opponents any opportunity until they rallied in the final quarter when the result of this Pool 2 clash was beyond doubt.
Fluidity can be lacking when a side comes together with limited training sessions, but Kent struck early as Bryan Hotston came up from full-back to send wing Tom Kendrick across with just four minutes played.
On 16 minutes, the Kent pack powered forward off lineout ball for open-side Vince Everitt to dive over in the opposite corner, Sam Evans adding a second excellent conversion from out wide on his way to an immaculate kicking display, and as Rafael Dutta burgled a Hampshire throw, the hosts moved forward through numerous phases before Mikel Davies spotted a gap to score.
Ben Charnock consistently made yardage through the midfield, and the No.8’s burst from a scrum on halfway saw Davies up in support for the scrum-half’s second try, the bonus point, and a 28-0 lead at the interval.
Charnock again made ground after the restart, before a Tonbridge Juddians combination of Evans, Kendrick and outside-centre Luke Talbot struck down the right flank for the latter to score.
And as a rare Hampshire foray into Kent territory died with an Evans intercept, it was skipper and blindside Dutta who sparked the counter-attack. Although hooker Taine Wagstaff’s grubber wasn’t the best, the ball fell loose for Kendrick to pounce and score his second.
Hampshire’s day started badly with the kick-off fumbled into touch and didn’t get much better. Handling errors abounded, and their set-piece, particularly their lineout, which they effectively gave up on, provided no platform.
However, to their credit, and perhaps with Kent easing up, they did provide a test for the home defences in the closing stages.
Although denied once again through their own handling errors, and as George Daly won the race to ground a punt to the goal area, they did manage a try at the very death through Havant’s Wes Dugan to claim a modicum of consolation.
Kent make the long journey to Redruth on Saturday to take on Cornwall in their second and final pool match.
There is nowhere more passionate than Cornwall in county rugby union, and no tougher venue than the Recreation Ground, with its notorious Hell Fire Corner, and the Duchy will be looking to avenge successive defeats, including a first-ever Kent win on Cornish soil at Camborne two years ago.
Kent squad: Hotston (Dorking), Kendrick (Tonbridge Juddians), Talbot (Tonbridge Juddians), Evans (Tonbridge Juddians), Asiedu (Letchworth Garden City), Fryatt (Westcombe Park), Davies (Westcombe Park), Ganley (Esher), Wagstaff (Westcombe Park), Bratton (Tonbridge Juddians), Self (Tonbridge Juddians), Stradwick (Blackheath), Dutta (Westcombe Park, captain), Everitt (Tonbridge Juddians), Charnock (Blackheath), Morris (Canterbury), Boon (Tonbridge Juddians), Frostick (Canterbury), Duaibe (Tonbridge Juddians), Ridge (Tonbridge Juddians), Daly (Blackheath), Williams (Canterbury), Furneaux (Canterbury).
