Kendal U15s 21 - Carlisle U15s - 20

After numerous cancellations due to the weather, Kendal were finally able to play their Cumbria cup semi-final against Carlisle, albeit on the 3G pitch, as the main pitch was still suffering from the weather.
Kendal kicked off and started the game well after a good tackle by Casper forced the turnover and gave Kendal some early possession which they tried to test the Carlise defence out wide but were thwarted by good cover tackles.
Kendal’s cover defence wasn’t as effective as after 3 minutes a blind side move took Carlisle into Kendal’s 22 and when the ball was recycled their big forwards crashed through for a try near the posts; however the conversion was missed for a 0-5 lead. Shortly after the restart, another blind side move from the half way line took Carlisle close to the 22 and when the ref spotted an infringement, Carlisle kicked for the 5m line but this time their forward drive was held up over the line. However they returned the goal line drop out well and then moved the ball to the right wing for another early try to give them a 0-10 lead after only 7 minutes. Kendal then enjoyed a good period of possession following strong runs and interplay between Joe and Will D that gave Olly and Roan the opportunity to break through and win possession on the Carlisle 5m line but a knock on at the line out allowed Carlisle to clear the danger.
Kendal were unusually slow to learn from their mistakes though and Carlisle scored their third try from a blind side scrum move after 13 mins which was converted this time for a 0-17 lead.
Kendal knew they had to get the next score to stand any chance of staging a comeback and after putting some longer periods of possession together they managed to do just that with a good team try. Leo secured line out ball that was shipped to the left wing and quickly recycled and after Caleb and Kurt’s good strong carries in the midfield, Iestyn made a great decision to switch play to Tristan, who broke several tackles to break through and score under the posts which he converted to narrow the score to 7-17 after 22 mins.
Kendal then had to defend strongly for the remainder of the half to keep the score as it was; a great combination tackle from Cam and Alex near the left wing try line forced a Carlisle player in touch but left Alex needed to leave the field for treatment on a bloody nose. Leon came on and found his jumper on a pressure line out throw that allowed Alfie to clear the danger and then another threatening attack was thwarted by pressure tackling from Harry and Will T who tackled superbly throughout the whole game.
Kendal’s half time team talk was based on more accuracy around the tackle and being tighter around the fringes of the scrum and yet again the team adapted to this and improved a lot in the second half, where their fortitude really kicked in. Kendal were able to control territory in the early stages of the second half and pin Carlisle back in their 22 and when a clearance kick was taken by Tristan he ran it infield and found Roan just outside the 22 and he showed exceptional pace to beat 3 or 4 cover defenders and score on the right wing despite calls to run it in closer to the sticks. Nevertheless, Tristan had no difficulty in knocking over the difficult conversion to narrow the gap to 14-17.
From the restart, Carlisle secured possession and the won a penalty when Kendal were caught offside. They opted to kick this and extend their lead to 14-20.
Then came the first bit of fortune for Kendal; what appeared a knock on by Kendal was missed and then an attempted intercept by Carlisle was knocked on to give Kendal a scrum just inside the Carlisle half. By now Tyler had moved to No8 and this time it was Carlisle who were beaten by a blindside move as Tyler outpaced the winger and then a dummy slowed down the cover defence to allow him to cut inside and score on the left. Tristan again converted to give Kendal the lead for the first time in the match 21-20 with 15 mins still remaining in the game.
The majority of the final 15 minutes was spent in Kendal’s half and so more fortitude was needed to keep Carlisle at bay and great pressure defence from the Kendal forwards and good cover defence from Dylan kept them at bay and forced them into some sloppy mistakes to ease the pressure.
However Kendal still needed a further slice of fortune to hold onto their lead; good strong defence had managed to hold up Carlisle’s strong running No 8 just short of the try line and when the ref initially called the ball carrier to be held up, he then changed it to the correct decision of short of the try line but awarded the 5m scrum to Kendal, who were relieved to then clear their lines and when Carlisle made a mess of the line out, Kendal won clean ball to allow Iestyn to boot the ball out of play to end the game and give everyone the chance to breathe a big sigh of relief!