Blackburn 45 v 0 Kendal (report)

Blackburn are swapping leagues with Kendal this season, and on this performance could do OK, with a solid defence and a good offloading game in attack, but it is difficult to judge in a game which was probably less one sided, particularly in the second half, on the pitch than the scoreboard suggests.

Kendal had the better start and after Blackburn’s kick-off, were soon on the attack, and had a chance to open the scoring when captain Glen Weightman, decided to give Chris Park a shot at goal after Blackburn had been caught offside, but the kick was caught by the strong crosswind.

Blackburn took the lead with their first real attack into Kendal territory after ten minutes. Excellent support play and offloading, plus some weak Kendal tackling took Blackburn deep into the Kendal twenty-two, and then a massive gap opened up in the defence, for a forward to barrel through for a try that was converted. 7v0.

Kendal were having difficulty winning ball, as they were being driven off their own ball in the scrum, whilst in the lineout, Alistair Thompson had looked in good form in the warm up, but was rarely being used.

The second Blackburn try came after a quarter of an hour of play. Jack Lashley looked to have done well to have stolen Blackburn ball near the posts, but the referee decided illegally, and Blackburn went over from a quickly taken penalty. 12v0.

Five minutes later Blackburn had their third. More gaps in the Kendal defence allowed a break down the right wing, and with last line of defence Chris Park committed to the tackle, the ball was offloaded for an easy run in for a try. 17v0.

It was one way traffic with Kendal seeing little ball and having to do a lot of work in defence.

After twenty five minutes Kendal lost Robbie Collinson to injury. There appeared to be a serious injury to Jack Lashley five minutes later. Again he had gone in to steal Blackburn ball, but was trapped between the two packs. Fortunately he was able to leave the field without the need to a stretcher, but played no further part in the game. This saw the game moved to uncontested scrums, which finally gave Kendal more ball to get back into the game, but they could make little impression on a solid Blackburn defence

Blackburn added a fourth try in injury time for a 24v0 lead which did not flatter them.

The second half was far more even but the Blackburn defence was much stronger than the Kendal attack, and Kendal had few chances to open their scoring.

Early in the half in the first tactical change Alex Burns came on for Jordan Johnson who had been playing scrum half, but Dini Noyo moved to scrum half and Burns went to the wing.

The Blackburn first try of the half came after a quarter of an hour with a long run from near halfway down the left wing. The other two tries both excellently converted from near the touchline despite a difficult cross wind, both came from lineout drives after penalties were put to touch.

Kendal had plenty of possession but the Blackburn defence often anticipated moves with players going in ones, and making little progress.

Towards the end of the game Jordan Johnson returned in place of Dini Noyo with Alex Burns going to scrum half.

Without knowing the strength of the two lineups it is difficult to draw real conclusions. Only Chris Park, Glen Wightman and Steve Nelson, plus Robbie Collinson and Jack Lashley who both left the field with injuries, playing regularly in the same positions last season. It was a strong back line with only Dan Cook and Jordan Johnson, not regular first team players, but the pack had much more the look of the Development team, but there were still good individual performances from many.

Plenty of effort for little reward, and after half time the tackling which had often been poor in the first half improved, which made Blackburn work harder. Extra work is needed on how to open up defence and the good team work of the pre-match warm needs to be translated into the match performance.

A number of injured players including Danny Barker and Mark Carruthers were watching, whilst other players were unavailable this weekend, due to other commitments.

No match next weekend (unless you know otherwise) but a large improvement (from possibly a stronger squad) will be needed to progress in the Cumbria Cup against Carlisle in a fortnight.

Sorry for anyone left out - or included and it wasn't them !