Darlington’s vast, wide pitch was tailor made for Kendal's quick backline, but the visitors had to ride out a difficult first 20 minutes when the home side quickly asserted their authority through their massive pack, scoring 2 tries (1 converted) to take a 12-0 lead.
Straight from the restart, Full-back Hayley Hodgson put the kick off deep and gave Kendal a bit of territory after Darlington made a mess of fielding the kick, and Kendal's scrum, after a torrid opening, stood up well and gave Kendal a good platform for a good five minute period deep in the opposition half.

After 25 minutes, Kendal got on the board with a spectacular try. Darlington kicked away the ball to relieve the pressure and once Hayley Hodgson ran it back, the forwards won quick ball at the breakdown and flung the ball wide, where Centre Sarah Wilkinson found Wing Emma Rowlinson on her shoulder, and the newly-converted flanker beat the first tackler before sitting the fullback down with an outrageous dummy and finishing the break on her own, Hayley knocking the kick over for 12-7.

The visitors were well in the game now, and started to dominate without adding to the scoreboard going to half time. The dominance continued after half time, but Darlington found a way over in the corner when they secured turnover ball and put the ball wide. The conversion was unsuccessful, and this was the end of the scoring for the home side as Wasps went for the jugular...
Wasps pack was starting to dominate at the breakdown and Scrum-half Cath Sewell and Stand-off Fleur Stanton were finding gaps all over the pitch to put big runners into and every time the ball went wide Darlington looked in huge trouble. Sarah Wilkinson scored a quick double, the first after Wing Rowan Boardley hassled a defender into a mistake fielding a long kick, the second after intercepting a wild pass in a static back line.

Centre Michelle Larkin looked dangerous all day, and got her reward on the back of some more great breakdown work by the pack, scorching clear to score in the corner, before Hayley Hodgson scythed through an exhausted defence to grab a bonus point in the last ten minutes, converting her own try and Sarah's second for a final score of 31-17.

Credit to Darlington for fighting back to the end, but an outstanding display from the Wasps. A mammoth effort from the forward pack, Back rows Rachelle Malette and Hannah Beard took the post-match forward plaudits, with Sarah Wilkinson the backs award.

Coach James Mackereth’s Viewpoint:
"Absolutely delighted with this result, this has been weeks in the making with all the work everyone has been putting in at the sessions recently. More evidence of how we are starting to play to a plan and work out how to fix things ourselves as the games progress. We were very smart, paced ourselves and finished the game very much on the front foot. From 1 to 15 everyone did their job and we played some quality stuff at times today. The final third of the season can't come soon enough, I'm looking forward to it!"

by Craig Ross