Cumbria Cup Final Success!

Despite having only had to play one game to get to the final, no one could accuse Kendal of having not taken the cup seriously this season. Having taken a strong team to Workington for their only other tie, this team was if anything stronger than the one fielded in their last league game on Saturday against Billingham, with Glen Weightman returning after being unavailable, and Alistair Thompson, after injury. The back division was re-jigged with Dini Noyo at scrum half. The only other change was Nick Carlton, who had played well after coming on as a substitute on Saturday, get a starting place in place of Dan Wilson.

It rained heavily from before kick off which probably favoured the strong Carlisle pack, rather than the quick Kendal’s back division.

Carlisle started well, and forced a number of Kendal errors, and penalties. From two lineouts Carlisle set up powerful drives down the left wing. Finally with the referee already playing advantage for an earlier offence, when the ball was moved wide, Kendal were penalised for offside in the centre, and the successfully kick provided the opening score 3v0.

The Kendal scrum was again struggling, and was driven off one put in, and penalised at a number of other scrums.

Slowly Kendal came back into the game, and when a Glen Weightman downfield kick was run back, a crunching Nick Carlton tackle turned over the ball, which set up a number of good Kendal breaks, only for the ball to be lost in the tackle in the twenty two.

The Kendal scrum was also gaining parity, especially on their own put in’s, where quick pickups by Chris Downham, followed by powerful runs into the Carlisle midfield backs, meant the Carlisle pack were having to think how to counter these, so were unable to put as much pressure on.

From one scrum near the line, Chris Downham broke away and crossed the line, only to have the ball ripped from his hands before he was able to ground it for the try. From the resulting scrum Kendal were again penalised for taking the scrum down, leaving Glenn Chesher bemused as he was still on his feet, whilst his opposite number was laid flat on the floor.

The Kendal backs made a number of good breaks, but with so little ball, too often they tried to keep the ball alive, leading to handing errors. Carlisle’s forwards continued to test the Kendal defence, but it gave few opportunities, with the game mainly being played in the middle of the pitch, outside the two twenty twos.

The scores stayed tied at half time, when Kendal made a change bringing on John Dervey for Jack Lashley, with Dom Musetti moving into the front row.

There were fluctuating fortunes at the start of the second half.

The Carlisle re-start kick rolled along the ground, failing to make the required distance, giving Kendal a scrum on halfway, only for them to again get penalised. The Carlisle kick made little distance, and Kendal’s change had an immediate effect, with John Dervey rising highest to gather the Carlisle throw.

The opening try came shortly afterwards. Kris Bratton gathered a Carlisle kick out of defence, deep in his own half. He set off on a run down the touchline, bouncing through several attempted tackles. When he was finally stopped, Chris Downham took the ball on making more ground towards the Carlisle line. When the ball came back, Glen Weightman put a kick through to the line, which seemed to have beaten the chasing Kendal runners, as the ball rolled out of play, only for the referee to head behind the post (after advice from his touch judge ?), indicating Danny Barker had been pulled back, as he tried to get the touchdown. 3v10

Kendal were forced into another change with Mark Carruthers coming on for Chris Park, with Kris Bratton going to fullback.

Play continued to be even with neither side having many chances to add to their score.

The breakthrough finally came after a quarter of an hour. A long Glen Weightman kick into the Carlisle twenty two, was run back by the replacement Carlisle fullback, but he was caught and isolated from the rest of his team, the ball was stolen and moved wide to the right where Nick Carlton forced his way over for the try. 3v15

Kendal made a further change with Robbie Collinson coming on for Alistair Thompson.

Carlisle had not given up, and another string of penalties put them on the attack, and prevented any opportunity for Kendal to breakaway for a further score.

Finally with ten minutes to play, from a lineout drive a Carlisle player broke away to score, and importantly the conversion was added, to put Carlisle within a converted score of victory. 10v15

There were a few frights for Kendal, but as the game entered injury time, another good run from Chris Downham into the Carlisle twenty two, forced an infringement. Glen Weightman put the kick over to establish a two score lead, with time running out. 10v18.

The team have occasionally been accused of not being able to close a game down, but this time they got the tactics spot on in the conditions, with the forwards keeping the ball very tight in small burst near halfway, with Robbie Collinson, Glenn Chesher and Jacob Sutton prominent, to run the clock down, to allow Glen Weightman to put the ball dead to end the game for cup victory.

Not pretty, but a hard earned victory, against a Carlisle team who raised their game, and had their chances to have taken victory. Play was not helped by the weather and some overly fussy interventions from the touch judges, which often seemed to confuse as much as help the referee.

YOUR CUP FINAL MAN OF THE MATCH : Chris Downham
Another barnstorming game, this time more in an attacking role, just edging Danny Barker out.