Late Drama to seal Victory

Kendal started with new centres Zane Butler and Danny Barker in midfield, whilst Matty Houghton retained his place on the right wing, after good performances in the pre-season games, with flyer Dini Noyo starting on the bench. Up front Richard Harryman was out, so Jack Lashley came in at prop, whilst coach Chris Downham started in the back row.

Kendal started well, and Chris Park had an early long range penalty attempt from within his own half, on what appeared to be a small ground, but misjudged the kick.

Kendal were having the majority of the play, but were being hampered with a string of handling errors with the ball being dropped and passes going astray. Despite missing the bulk of Richard Harryman, the forwards were competing well at the scrum, but were losing the battle in the loose, to a committed Leigh pack. The Leigh backs looked dangerous when they had the ball in hand, but were no match for the Kendal defence, with Chris Downham and Zane Butler putting in some crunching tackles, which forced attackers backwards, but were not able to take the ball.

Kendal finally took the lead after fifteen minutes. On an afternoon when the Kendal lineout worked well, Leigh managed to steal Kendal throw, but Garry Holmes reacted quickest to regain the tap down. The ball was then moved in to the centre, where Zane Butler made a powerful break, and when he was stopped, he was well supported by Danny Barker. When the ball came back, it went to the right, where Chris Park broke the defence to score under the posts, giving himself an easy conversion. 0v7.

Shortly afterwards Matty Houghton, having another good game on the wing, chipped the ball through, and after a Leigh error, managed to regain the ball, but when the ball went in to midfield, a poor pass again broke momentum.

Kendal continued to dominate possession, with Leigh rarely escaping their half, but the Kendal handling errors continued, to prevent further scores.

With three minutes of the half to play, on a rare visit to the Kendal half, Leigh opened their scoring with a penalty 3v7, which remained the score at half time.

At the start of the second half, Kendal were immediately punished for failing to take their earlier opportunities. A Leigh player broke down the right wing, and when a kick was put through, there was a needless late tackle, as the kick ahead was already covered. The penalty was put to touch and when the lineout was won, the ball was moved into midfield, to set up a position for the Leigh No.8 to score, with the outside half converting, to take the lead. 10v7

Immediately after the score, Chris Downham was forced off with a cut to his head. This brought Dini Noyo on, with the versatile Matty Houghton, moving into the back row.

Kendal stepped up a gear, and a kick upfield was well chased by Chris Park, who caught the Leigh player. Whilst he got the ball away, Zane Butler was in support, and another crunching tackle drove the player into touch. When James Gough tried to take the ball for a quick throw, the Leigh player refused to give it up, and the referee award a penalty against him. Then when Gough tried to take the ball again for the quick penalty, the Leigh player threw a punch and was sent to the sidelines for ten minutes.

Whilst a handling error again turned the ball over, the Leigh kick of defence was to result in Kendal taking the lead. Dini Noyo gathered the kick and set off on a weaving run. Instead of going for the line himself, he passed to Glenn Weightman, who had an easy run to the line. Chris Park converted. 14v10.

What appeared a serious injury to a Leigh player, broke the Kendal momentum, although fortunately he was able to walk off the field. Leigh then started to play the much better rugby, putting together a number of phases of play, with their forwards appearing faster and better organised than Kendal’s.

The pressure finally told after twenty minutes, when the Leigh outside half put an excellent kick to the left corner, which was gathered by the fullback, for an unconverted try, to retake the lead. 14v15.

Five minutes later Kendal had the lead back, After James Gough had taken run an earlier penalty quickly, from a position where a kick could have retaken the lead, following some debate, this time Chris Park was given the ball, and made no mistake. 17v15.

Kendal had a let off, when having conceded an easy penalty in front of the posts, the kick came back off the posts, allowing Glenn Weightman to gather and clear the danger with kick to touch.

With time running out, Kendal made two more changes, with Chris Downham coming back on for Blake Robinson, and Mark Caruthers coming on for Chris Park.

Downham was soon in the action, as he ran the ball out of defence from a scrum, but the referee adjudged that he had failed to release the ball when tackled, despite the view of the Kendal bench that he had not been held. This time the Leigh outside half made no mistake to give his team the lead with a penalty. 17v18.

At the start of injury time Kendal brought Jack Lashley off to be replaced by Rob Wightman.

A positive trait of Kendal teams in recent seasons, has been their refusal to give up at the end of the game, and again they came out fighting.

An excellent run down the right wing out of defence by Mark Carruthers, set up Zane Butler for a powerful run, with Dini Noyo then appearing in support. When he was tackled, the ball came back, and with the Leigh defence in disarray, the Kendal backs were lined up for the score, only for a pass to Glenn Weightman to go to ground.

Villain was however soon to become hero. After the resulting scrum, the Kendal pack stole the ball back from Leigh, and patient work, slowly took the ball on, with Garry Holmes and the fresh legs of Rob Wightman prominent, and when they were ready, the ball came back to Glenn Weightman, for him to slot over the drop goal. Despite there being a seven minutes delay for the serious injury. With only five minutes of extra time played, the referee decided he has seen enough and immediately blew for full time. The relieved Kendal team would not be complaining.

On the first half performance this could be seen as a bonus point dropped, but after Leigh’s strong second half performance, the team should be pleased to start with a win.

Plenty for the coaches to work on before next weekend’s visit to Mint Bridge of Vale of Lune. Including improved handling skills, and better attacking alignment, to deal with a defence which appeared to frequently be up too quickly. Also how to protect the ball, when missing the immense presence of Richard Harryman.

The performance with ball in hand from Matty Houghton, Zane Butler and when he came on Dini Noyo, suggests if the pack can give them quick ball, the backline could challenge opposition defences this season, but they need faster support from their forwards, when stopped.

KENDAL MAN OF THE MATCH (as voted for be website readers) CHRIS PARK
This week's vote was as competive and as close a result as the game itself, with eight different players getting a vote.
Runners up Matty Houghton and Zane Butler.

Kendal

15 Nathan Woof
14 Matty Houghton
13 Zane Butler
12 Danny Barker
11 Chris Park
10 Glenn Weightman
9 James Gough

1 Duncan Green (C)
2 Garry Holmes
3 Jack Lashley
4 Liam Hayton
5 Ben Leacock
6 Blake Robinson
7 Chris Downham
8 James Thompson

sub Mark Carruthers (17)
sub Rob Wightman (18)
sub Dini Noyo (19)