The tough early run of games continued with visitors Blackburn having finished third last season and second the season before, including high scoring wins at Mint Bridge in both seasons. They had been at the wrong end of a heavy defeat against Anselmians on the first weekend, but bounced back with a good win against Stoke last weekend.

Kendal came into the game without a win, despite good performances against both Wirral and Rossendale.

Leo Mercer was away at a wedding, so Dini Noyo moved to fullback and Mark Carruthers came in on the wing. Dev Coyle was on holiday, so Dafydd Philp joined the bench for his debut, and Joe Anderson, who had been away at a wedding last week return on the bench, with Tom Keast who had done well when he came on at Rossendale, keeping his place on the bench.

A much changed Blackburn side, including the loss of former Black & Amber Lewis Kincart to Fylde. Only prop Alexander Evans started in the same position against Kendal in the away game last season, whilst four others played in different positions

A glorious sunny afternoon, perfect for watching if not playing rugby, and the touchline was busy but stand and balcony still looked down on last season.

In a number of games at Mint Bridge the team have made a slow start and gone behind early, this time it was the opposite taking the lead after just two minutes. Steven Nelson stole Blackburn ball at a breakdown, and Luke Atkinson put a long kick through. Blackburn tried to run the ball back, but a pass went loose and Kendal players were quickest to react scooping the ball up and moving it out to Aaron Stephens for the opening score 5v0 (no confusion this week, after last week when the try initially credited to him, was scored by Ollie Rose)

Sadly normal service was quickly resumed when a poor box kick out of defence gifted Blackburn the ball and a penalty was conceded which rather than being put to touch was run quickly. A second penalty was conceded and was again taken quickly, and resulted in a try which was converted to give Blackburn the lead 5v7 after just five minutes.

Kendal came back with a long run by Dane Blenkharn out of defence, he passed to Ollie Rose, who when caught got a pass away but the ball did not go to hand for the score.

Instead it was the Kendal defence that was opened up and more good passing and support play resulted in a second converted try for Blackburn 5v14 after just ten minutes.

The burst of scoring was to continue and it was Kendal who got the next try. Mark Carruthers stole ball in the Blackburn half and the ball was moved right, where Barney Coxon made a break, he passed to Dan Shorrock who just acted as a link quickly getting the ball to Glenn Chesher on the burst. Still on halfway it would have been better if the roles had been reversed, but Glenn made a lot of ground then timing a pass perfectly to find Ben Dixon on the right wing for the score 10v14 with less than a quarter of an hour played.

Five minutes later Kendal had the lead back. The ball was moved left to right and Dane Blenkharn made a break, he got the ball away to Dan Shorrock and whilst caught, Ollie Rose was with him to take the pass for the score, and this time Aaron Stephen was able to add the conversion. 17v14.

Kendal were forced into a change with Mark Caruthers picking up an injury, in his first game back. Dafydd Philip coming into the left wing for his debut. Shortly afterwards Kendal also made a tactical change with Joe Anderson coming on for Tadhg Butler and Barney Coxon moving to the second row.

After the problems a fortnight ago the Kendal lineout was doing much better but Blackburn re-took the lead following a scrum, when a Kendal throw in the windy conditions was adjudged not straight. 17v19

Just before half time Kendal were forced into a temporary change whilst Dini Noyo received treatment, and with the back replacement already on, was replaced by the slightly taller Tom Keast.

At the end of normal time Blackburn again opened the Kendal defence up for a fourth try, and a conversion was added for a 17v26 half time lead.

Dini Noyo returned at the start of the second half, but Tom Keast stayed on with Steven Nelson not returning.

Again Kendal started well. Blackburn conceded a number of penalties, and from a scrum, with Steven Nelson off, Patrick Wolstenholme broke but was stopped just short of the line. The ball was recycled and breaks by Luke Atkinson and Dini Noyo made room for Dan Shorrock to go over for the try. Aaron Stephens added the conversion and Kendal were back within two points 24v26.

Shortly afterwards there was concern when the game had to be stopped for what appeared to be a serious injury to a Kendal player. It turned out to be to Luke Atkinson, and fortunately he was able to hobble off without the need for a stretcher.

With the only back replacement already used for an injury, it meant an early return for Tadhg Butler, and Patrick Wolstenholme spending the rest of the game as a stand in wing, with Dan Shorrock moving the centre. There was also another re-arrangement of the pack with Dane Blenkharn becoming the third play to go No.8, whilst Barney and Oscar Coxon moved into the back row.

Blackburn quickly extended their lead with a good break from outside half Owen Pye opening up the Kendal defence to set up a try which was converted 24v33.

Blackburn widened the gap further with two tries, the second was under the posts but their kicker took a little too long with his kick and a Kendal player (Dan Shorrock ?) managed to charge it down.

This could have proved important, as Kendal were not finished. Dan Shorrock made a break from deep, but a Blackburn player got back to catch him and his pass to Dini Noyo went loose.

Kendal were still not finished and Tom Keast who had done a lot of work in defence since he came on, made a break and released Dan Shorrock and this time there was no stopping him. Quick thinking saw Aaron Stephens drop kick the conversion, which with the charged down conversion gave Kendal a chance to comeback for another try to get a losing bonus point.

It was not to be so a third loss to start the season.

No need to push the panic button just yet. As soon as the games were announced the opening looked a difficult with the teams who finished fourth, second and third last season. Whilst we defeated Wirral in an amazing comeback last season, we lost both of the other games, and have scored ten more points and conceded twenty-seven less. With extra bonus points the team are only two points worse off from the games than last season where they ended up fourth, and two of the games came in the pre-Christmas period where we were pushing for fourth, before falling off badly after Christmas.

The players look far fitter than last season, and the more open style of play is better suited to the players we have available. It was a very young and inexperienced team which finished the game, and a big positive that they were still looking for more points even when the game was lost.

Dafydd Philp did not look out of place and the young players again impressed and can only get better with experience (although not sure Patrick Wolstenholme will be keen to repeat his on the wing too often!)

Next week a visit to the surprise team of the opening games. Anselmians had that big win against Blackburn, and still have maximum points sitting just behind Rossendale at the top of the table on points difference. Kendal lost there last season on a damp afternoon on one of their poorest performances of the first set of games, returning with just a losing bonus point.

Which is the bigger question. Can they become the first team to defeat Anselmians – or can they find eighteen fit First XV players ? Hopefully Leo Mercer and Alistair Thompson will be available to add some experience to the team.

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For anyone who saw the preview but was not at the game the two young men on the photo from 2011 who went on to play for Kendal were Joe Fiddler, and the much travelled (Kendal, Wharfdale, Kendal, Blackburn and now Fylde) Lewis Kincart (whose hair cut was a lot more drastic in those days)

For anyone who didn’t see the preview picture you will not have a clue what this is about !

MAN OF THE MATCH

Dane Blenkharn

ACTION

Action	Team	No	Name	Time		Ken	Bla
Try	Kendal	10	Aaron Stephens	2		5	0
Try	Blackburn			4		5	5
Con	Blackburn	12	Patrick Gaffey	5		5	7
Try	Blackburn			9		5	12
Con	Blackburn			10		5	14
Try	Kendal	13	Ben Dixon	13		10	14
Try	Kendal	9	Ollie Rose	18		15	14
Con	Kendal	10	Aaron Stephens	19		17	14
sub-on	Kendal	21	Dafydd Philp	24		17	14
sub-off	Kendal	14	Mark Carruthers	24		17	14
sub-on	Kendal	18	Joe Anderson	26		17	14
sub-off	Kendal	24	Tadhg Butler	26		17	14
Try	Blackburn			25		17	19
sub-on	Kendal	5	Tom Keast	38		17	19
sub-off	Kendal	14	Dini Noyo	38		17	19
Try	Blackburn			40		17	24
Con	Blackburn			40+1		17	26
= = =	= = =	= = =	HALF TIME			17	26
sub-on	Kendal	14	Dini Noyo	40		17	26
sub-off	Kendal	8	Steven Nelson	40		17	26
Try	Kendal	11	Dan Shorrock	45		22	26
Con	Kendal	10	Aaron Stephens	46		24	26
sub-on	Kendal	24	Tadhg Butler	50		24	26
sub-off	Kendal	12	Luke Atkinson	50		24	26
Try	Blackburn			53		24	31
Con	Blackburn	12	Patrick Gaffey	54		24	33
Try	Blackburn			62		24	38
Try	Blackburn			70		24	43
Try	Kendal	11	Dan Shorrock	80		29	43
Con	Kendal	10	Aaron Stephens	81		31	43
= = =	= = =	= = =	FULL TIME			31	43

TEAM

Kendal		Blackburn
Dini Noyo	15	Sam Fisher
Mark Carruthers	14	Harry Aaronson
Ben Dixon	(c) 13	Tom Carleton
Luke Atkinson	12 (c)	Patrick Gaffey
Dan Shorrock	11	Jake Foster
Aaron Stephens	10	Owen Pye
Olllie Rose	9	Zac Baker
Glenn Chesher	1	Alexander Evans
Jack Blocksidge	2	Jordon Lord
Barney Coxon	3	Ben Corless
Oscar Coxon	4	Connor Scrivens
Tadhg Butler	(24) 5	Owen Hinks
Dane Blenkharn	6	Oliver Mills
Patrick Wolstenholme	7	Jamie Brooks
Steven Nelson	8	Alex Smith
Tom Keast	(5) rep	Corey Logo
Joe Anderson	(18) rep	Stanley Zvidi
Dafydd Philp	(21) rep	Niall Povall
Matt Arrowsmith	Ref	North

Alistair Thompson was still away; as is Devin Coyle, whilst Leo Mercer was at a Wedding, Joe Anderson returned after attending one last weekend Alex Ryder has an injury.

OTHER RESULTS

Birkenhead Park	17		66	Rossendale
Leek	17		55	Newport (Salop)
Manchester	48		15	Penrith
Stockport	46		5	Wirral
Stoke on Trent	26		42	Anselmians

TABLE

#	TEAM	W	L	+/-	TB	LB	Pts
1	Rossendale	3	0	101	3	0	15
2	Anselmians	3	0	86	3	0	15
3	Newport (Salop)	2	1	75	2	1	11
4	Stockport	2	1	39	2	1	11
5	Penrith	2	1	36	2	0	10
6	Manchester	2	1	32	2	0	10
7	Wirral	2	1	-19	2	0	10
8	Blackburn	2	1	-35	2	0	10
9	Kendal	0	3	-35	3	1	4
10	Stoke on Trent	0	3	-56	3	0	3
11	Birkenhead Park	0	3	-111	0	0	0
12	Leek	0	3	-113	0	0	0

Only two unbeaten - and four on maximum try scoring bonus points, despite two of us having not won a game yet