of the second half.
Chris Downham and Nathan Wooff returned to the side, for Matty Houghton and Chris Park, with Jack Lashley and newcomer Jack Morphet coming in on the bench.
Widnes are struggling at the wrong end of the table this season, and Kendal soon pressed home their advantage.
Damian Armstrong carved through the Widnes defence, but found himself without any support to take a scoring pass. When he was finally stopped, James Gough quickly got the ball moving again, only for the moved to be ended by a deliberate knock on. The subsequent penalty was put to touch, and having secured the lineout ball, the forwards drove to the line, with Liam Hayton coming up with the try. Glenn Weightman put over the difficult conversion, with what was to be his only successful kick of the afternoon. 7v0 after less than five minutes.
Kendal were straight back on the attack, with Widnes being forced to concede a number of penalties, to stop Kendal momentum. After being penalised for offences at a scrum, and a lineout close to the line, Widnes were finally made to pay, when Liam Hayton took the ball from a lineout, and the forwards again drove to the line, with James Thompson emerging with the try. 12v0.
Kendal continued on the attack, with Chris Downham making a powerful break, only to find he lacked support when stopped. Liam Hayton then took the ball on, but again support was too slow to arrive.
Kendal had their third try after a quarter of an hour. Another drive from a lineout, saw Phil Murphy come up with the try. 17v0.
The try scoring bonus point was secured five minutes later. The ball was moved across field to the left, and using Dini Noyo as a decoy, Nathan Wooff powered to the line himself for the try. 22v0.
Widnes finally then came into the game, and continued to attack despite being reduced temporarily to fourteen men, after a second row prevented James Gough taking a quick penalty. They also suffered what appeared a serious injury to their scrum half.
The Kendal defence held firm and turned at half time with a healthy lead.
The game had been punctuated by a number of fracas between the forwards, and five minutes into the half the Widnes No.4 was given a Red card (?) for his part in the latest altercation.
Kendal’s fifth try came after ten minutes. After a lineout drive, the ball was moved into midfield and James Gough found Garry Holmes arriving at speed, to power to the line, for his first try of the season. 27v0.
Kendal were then forced to defend close to their own line, and lost Richard Harryman, making a first start of the season, who was replaced by Jack Lashley.
Jack Morphet and Mark Carruthers were also brought on for James Thompson and Nathan Wooff.
The game started to degenerated, with Kendal losing the ball on several occasions due to poor and dropped passes, whilst the friction between the forwards continued.
Jack Lashley was yellow carded after half an hour, for a dangerous tackle.
James Thompson returned for Josh Chaplow, but he was back shortly afterwards, as Chris Downham was forced off.
Kendal added their sixth try as the game came towards the end of normal time. The ball was moved across field to the left, and Damian Armstrong broke through a number of tackles to score. 32v0.
The game ended with Widnes on the attack, but they seemed happy to have rallied from their poor start, and kept the score to a respectable level in the second half.
For Kendal, after the excellent start, the team went off the boil, and the problems with handling errors that too often ended promising moves, poor decision making, and lack of support for players when they have broken the defence, persists. On the positive side, the back division look capable of scoring for anywhere if the correct decisions are taken, whilst the defence is much more solid. The first three tries showed the forwards are not going to be overshadowed, when a bit of power is required.
Next up is Carlisle away. After the good start last season, this proved a banana skin, and with two ex-players in the Kendal XV, they be keen not to make the same mistake next weekend.
KENDAL MAN OF THE MATCH ; Chris Downham
Action | Team | No | Name | Time | Kendal | Widnes | |
Try | Kendal | 4 | Liam Hayton | 4 | 5 | 0 | |
Con | Kendal | 10 | Glenn Weightman | 5 | 7 | 0 | |
Try | Kendal | 6 | James Thompson | 12 | 12 | 0 | |
Try | Kendal | 5 | Phil Murphy | 16 | 17 | 0 | |
Try | Kendal | 15 | Nathan Wooff | 20 | 22 | 0 | |
Y/C | Widnes | 5 | ? | 35 | 22 | 0 | |
= = = | = = = | = = = | HALF TIME | 40+4 | 22 | 0 | |
R/C | Widnes | 4 | 5 | 22 | 0 | ||
Try | Kendal | 2 | Garry Holmes | 9 | 27 | 0 | |
sub-on | Kendal | 16 | Jack Lashley | 15 | 27 | 0 | |
sub-off | Kendal | 3 | Richard Harryman | 15 | 27 | 0 | |
sub-on | Kendal | 18 | Jack Morphet | 16 | 27 | 0 | |
sub-off | Kendal | 6 | James Thompson | 16 | 27 | 0 | |
sub-on | Kendal | 18 | Mark Carruthers | 18 | 27 | 0 | |
sub-off | Kendal | 15 | Nathan Wooff | 18 | 27 | 0 | |
Y/C | Kendal | 16 | Jack Lashley | 28 | 27 | 0 | |
sub-on | Kendal | 6 | James Thompson | 29 | 27 | 0 | |
sub-off | Kendal | 7 | Josh Chaplow | 29 | 27 | 0 | |
sub-on | Kendal | 7 | Josh Chaplow | 34 | 27 | 0 | |
sub-off | Kendal | 8 | Chris Downham | 34 | 27 | 0 | |
Try | Kendal | 12 | Damian Armstrong | 38 | 32 | 0 | |
= = = | = = = | = = = | FULL TIME | 32 | 0 |
Kendal | Widnes | |
Nathan Wooff | 15 | P O'Connor (C) |
Zane Butler | 14 | T Spencer |
Danny Barker | 13 | D Welsh |
Damian Armstrong | 12 | G Riley |
Dini Noyo | 11 | S Johnson |
Glenn Weightman | 10 | K Leadbetter |
James Gough | 9 | J Kenyon |
Duncan Green (C) | 1 | M Dyas |
Garry Holmes | 2 | J Winstanley |
Richard Harryman | 3 | S Whitty |
Liam Hayton | 4 | M Field |
Phil Murphy | 5 | T Farmer |
James Thompson | 6 | T O'Neill |
Josh Chaplow | 7 | L Whitty |
Chris Downham | 8 | M Jones |
Jack Lashley (16) | sub | M Lawton |
Jack Morphet (18) | sub | J Steadman |
Mark Carruthers (20) | sub | M Lamb |
David Sutherland | ref | Scotland RFU |