I remember many years ago BC (before Cumbria) having a discussion with some opposition supporters mocking one of our (Newport) players, and suggesting to them the best way to gauge an opposition player’s value, was how you would feel if he was joining your team.

I remember few opposition players and certainly not their names, but when it was announced Glen Weightman was joining us, I not only knew the name, but thought it was a excellent recruit, despite probably only having seen him play twice, against us in the previous season in games we won.

Not the best of starts as he was out injured for the first two games and his new shirt clearly did not suit Nathan Wooff who played outside half in a 19 shirt, with the 10 going to Jordan Johnson, first as a replacement, then on the wing. Even when Glen came into the team on the bench in the next two games he had the 12 shirt and Mark Carruthers in the centre wore the 10, despite Nathan playing outside half.

Glen finally started at 10 in the next game against New Brighton (it looks as if the shirt issues had been resolved), but the following week the team struggled to a 11v10 lead at half time against a Wigton team yet to win that season. Glen was forced off with injury, having converted two penalties and set up an early try for Dini with a kick. Nathan came on and went outside half, Dini ran riot with three more tries, and the team added 47 points without reply.

The following week we went to his former club, Glen started on the bench and we lost, but had revenge three weeks later in the cup where two late tries from Dini, saw an under strength team snatch a very late victory. Glen failed with the conversion of the first which would have given us the lead, but then total wrong footed his former team mates, by running their re-start kick back, breaking the defence, and releasing Dan Lowther who did the hard work before passing to Dini to squeeze in for the score.

A week later Glen probably put over one of the most “pressure” kicks for victory. Widnes had totally against the run of play comeback from 12v0 down to tie the scores at the end of the game. The restart kick was followed by a late tackle, a boxing match, a reversed penalty and some gross petulance from the opposition, but it was all not enough to put Glen off, and he slotted over the match winning kick.

We went through a full set of games before his first try, which was of the type we saw so often last season. Danny Barker’s arrival was six months away, and it was Bob Mataia who did the decoy run, as Glen split the Bolton defence then weaved through for a spectacular try.

And so it went on – he started the following season dropping the late goal which snatched the win at Leigh, which was later to prove crucial for promotion – but moments earlier had dropped a pass that would have given him a clear run to the line. There was only one game he was not in the starting line up that season – the away loss at Kirkby Lonsdale, where he started on the bench.

He has only failed to play in two games since his debut – both for weddings (for some reason I can see Glen in the full Hugh Grant Top Hat and tails – although they may not have been that type of wedding - the second was Danny’s, who had previously been “rested” for a few games, clearly not wanting any black eyes or broken bones in the wedding photos). Despite this there are only two seasons he went through in the 10 shirt, 2016/17 and last season. The others have seen him occasionally switched to centre and fullback, before getting the 10 shirt back.

There have been days when the kicks at goal didn’t go over, and penalties to touch were miss or go dead, and kicks for position end up in the hands of the only one of the opposition not in the fourteen man defensive wall - but then there are others when he made key contributions, that drop goal, his perfectly weighted re-start against Sandal, magnificently gathered by Will Montgomery to set up an unlikely injury time win, his conversion in the wild weather against Pocklingtion, and the kick through for Lewis’ try against Malton & Norton,.

I had felt for a while Glen was the man to captain the team, so was surprised at the start of last season that someone else agreed, and he led from the front, conjuring up a number of late tries for victories or earlier ones that settled the nerves.

Dan Stephens was one of a number of Kendal players I was never sure what his favoured position was. He played fullback for most of the 1999/00 promotion season, then came into the team in the centre the following season, when Ian Voortman broke his leg, and played outside half in the unbeaten 2007/08 season.

A different kind of outside half to the others in recent promotion seasons. Not sure Glen or Casey Mee would have emerged with several tries at the back of a rolling maul, as Dan did at Hull that season. In the key away game against Huddersfield, where he was up against their star player Chris Johnson, he score eleven points, despite both my notes and another report suggesting he missed a few kicks he would normally have put over – not surprising as the night before he had been up until the early hours at the birth of his second child.

I don’t think I ever saw the best of Casey Mee, as from reports he had some excellent performances including against London Scottish, where he was held up attempting to score a late match winning try. I was at the New Brighton game in the 1999/00 season, one of the few games lost that season, where he kicked badly. I remember being more impressed when Mike Scott took the outside half role half way through the West Hartlepool game (where he set a league record for points in a game). I had thought the switch continued in later games, but it was only in the last four games Mike got the 10 shirt.

In the unexpected names, sadly I can find no forwards (Matt Houghton has yet to get the 10 shirt I was once sure he coveted). The best I can do is scrum halves Ben Alderton (3); Simon Davidson (3); Jimmy Thompson (3); James Hadwin (1) plus James Gough (1) – the big loss at Wirral at the start of the 2013/14 season, where Andrew Boardley, who had previously played 10 was at scrum half.

Whilst I have only identified 194 games David Bell played outside half from the 490 I have (and 516 he played) the only other ones I have identifed are three at fullback. So I suspect most of the 515 were at 10

FOOTNOTE 1
I cannot be sure but I think the player being discussed in the “exchange” at the start was also an outside half, Canadian international Gareth Rees. With the build of Billy Coxon (same height, if a stone lighter), but the place kicking accuracy of Mark Ireland, and the rugby brain of Mike Scott, he often raised comments from opposition supporters. At one away cup game, in the first half the opposition’s young outside half (later to play for Wales whilst at a subsequent club) out played him – in the second half Rees chose route one to score, flattening his opponent on the way to the line – he pull the same trick in a subsequent game when the same player was at his new club. As a schoolmaster at Eton he taught rugby to Prince William.

FOOTNOTE 2
Dan being out of position at centre in the 2000/01 season got me thinking how many of the team were that season. Mike Scott whose natural position was probably outside half, played fullback, Casey Mee joined the club as a scrum half but played outside half, Richard Harryman started eleven games in the second row, and Keith Robinson five in the back row. Paul Doods on the wing was another like Dan who I was never sure what his preferred position was. Even Ian Thompson was supposedly converted to prop after spells in the back row and hooker.

FOOTNOTE 3
We are (unless anything has / does change) now less than a month away from some REAL rugby from the First XV, with a warm up game against Aspatria due on the 7th.

The League action does not start for a further month (4th) at Carlisle.

Get the dates on your calendar / diary / phone – and keep checking the website for any updates,