Kendal 28 (14) v (5) 24 Hoppers XV

Kendal’s final pre-season game saw them play a Preston Grasshoppers XV, made up mainly of second string players, as they were also entertaining Waterloo at home.

Early play was fairly scrappy with both teams making a string of handling errors, leading to scrums, which slowed the game down. James Gough, restored at scrum half, was constantly in the action, taking a number of quick penalties.

Kendal opened the scoring after a break from Nathan Woof, making his first appearance of the season. His run was ended by a high tackle, which gave Kendal a penalty which was put to touch. The forwards secured the ball and when it was moved into midfield, Matty Houghton had come off his wing, and managed to power out of a tackle to go over for the try, which Chris Park converted. 7v0.

The second score came five minutes later. Despite having the lighter pack, the Kendal eight managed to steal a Preston scrum put in, and when the ball came back to him, Glen Weightman weaved his way through the defence for a try, again converted by Chris Park. 14v0

The solid Kendal defence, with centres Alistair Thompson and Mark Carruthers prominent, meant the Hoppers back line had very few opportunities.

On the stroke of halftime, Preston got their opening score with an unconverted try, as their pack drove over after a lineout following a penalty. 14v5.

Kendal started the second half well and immediately put the Hoppers line under pressure. James Gough and Garry Holmes combined to take the ball to the line, and when the ball came back, captain Duncan Green went over for the score, again converted by Chris Park. 21v5.

The size and power of the Hoppers pack started to tell, and after ten minutes play, from another lineout, the Hopers forwards drove over for a try 21v12. This was repeated six minutes later, as Kendal had no answer to the powerful drive. 21v17.

When the Hoppers forwards set up a fourth try six minutes later, they took the lead 21v24.

The Kendal team were however not finished, and having forced an error from the kick off, the Kendal pack kept the ball tight through a number of short drives, which finally resulted in a try in the right hand corner (too dark and too far away to know to whom – Liam Hayton (or Rob Wightman) appeared to be last up). The conversion went over 21v24.

Kendal gathered the kick off and Glen Weightman put it back into touch to end the game.

Still plenty of work to do before the season kicks-off for real, away at promoted Leigh a week on Saturday, but plenty of positives, especially behind the pack, where there should be more options this season.