Heavy Weather

Five points separated the two teams at the start of the day, with Sandal having a game in hand, so both teams would have been looking for a victory to move them towards a mid-table finish at the end of the season.

After a three week layoff, the team welcomed back Mike Fearon in the centre, with Kris Bratton moving to the wing, and Dini Noyo to scrum half. Chris Park started with Nathan Wooff moving to the bench, whilst Matt Charters returned in the back row for Chris Downham, and Robbie Collinson came in at hooker, with Garry Holmes moving to the backrow for Ben Dixon, who away is playing rugby in Australia for six months.

Kendal started well and had the lead after just two minutes. Glen Weightman made a break down the left wing, then rolled a long kick into corner. The Kendal pack put pressure on the Sandal lineout, and a relieving kick to touch was partially charged down, and came to Brett Ashley. The ball was moved infield where Glen Weightman spotted a gap and went through to score under the posts, with Chris Park adding the conversion. 7v0

Kendal continued to have the better of the play, but several good breaks came to nothing. One from Mike Fearon saw his pass not go to the hands of Matt Charters in support.

Kendal had their second try after twenty minutes. Sandal ball was stolen in the Kendal twenty two and Glen Weightman put a long kick into the opposition half. The Sandal fullback tried to run the ball back, but when he put a kick through to chase, Ross McKay, managed to palm it down into the hands of Dini Noyo, who with plenty of space to work with went in from close to halfway for a try which was not converted. 12v0.

Whilst the Sandal backs often looked dangerous with ball in hand, the Kendal defence was equal to everything thrown at it.

There was good break, from Jacob Sutton, but Sandal players managed to cut off the opportunity for a pass to Dino Noyo in support.

Sandal finally got a breakthrough close to half time. A long kick upfield was gathered by Brett Ashley, but he found himself isolated and the ball was turned over. The Kendal defence was slow to get back, and Sandal made good ground, and when the ball was moved to the right Sandal prop Tom Baxter went over, despite Brett Ashley’s attempts to stop him. 12v5.

Kendal dominated the second half, but rarely looked like scoring. Sandal got well on top in the scrums, driving their own put-ins and looking for penalties, whilst disrupting the Kendal put-ins, making pickups difficult for Matt Charters.

After winning some Sandal ball at the lineout in the first half, the Kendal lineout also started to struggle.

Rather than play to the conditions, and kick for position as they had in the first half, Kendal often over complicated moves, trying to take on a powerful Sandal pack.

With a quarter of the game to play, Kendal first brought on Jack Lashley for Dom Musetti, then Nathan Wooff for Danny Barker.

Jacob Sutton and Glen Weightman broke the Sandal defence, and the forwards battered the try line but could not get over for the score.

With time running out, Sandal had their best spell of the half, forcing Kendal to concede a number of penalties, which saw Jacob Sutton yellow carded when Kendal were defending on their try line as the game entered injury time.

However after struggling on their own lineout throws for much of the half, Kendal then stole Sandal lineout ball on the line, and then the defence held firm to force a Sandal error, which turned over the ball to Kendal, allowing Glen Weightman to put the ball to touch to end the game.

A good win, and excellent defensive performance, which offered the sharp Sandal backline few chances. The Sandal defence was regularly breached by good running, but the scores did not come due to lack of support runners. However the scrum struggled in the second half, and in the second half too often the ball was kept tight, against a strong Sandal pack, instead of putting the ball into space, and looking for Sandal mistakes.

A fortnight off, then a difficult trip to Wirral, although they seem to be having their own struggles at the moment.

Your KENDAL WEBSITE MAN OF THE MATCH : Jacob Sutton
You agreed with the official result with a third Man of the Match performance of the season for Jacob