Blowing Away the Cobwebs

The pitch appeared to be in good condition, despite the recent wet weather, and with no wind, both teams played an open game.

Rochdale made a shaky start to the game, which immediately put them under pressure. Shortly after the Kendal kick off, a long Rochdale pass totally missed its mark, and went loose behind their line. Their fullback did very well to gather under Kendal pressure and get a kick away, but with the rest of the team in front of him, Rochdale were lucky that Kendal were unable to do better with running the kick back.

Rochdale stayed trapped in their twenty two and another error, when the right wing slipped when the ball was being run from their own line, led to a scrum was conceded. Chris Downham made the initial break from the back of the scrum, then several forwards probed for a gap in the Rochdale defence, before Garry Holmes found it, for the opening try after just four minutes, as he burrowed over from short range. Nathan Wooff added the conversion. 7v0

Rochdale errors and Kendal pressure kept the game at the clubhouse end, and only a few poor options prevented the lead being extended.

Kendal finally got their second score after quarter of an hour. Glenn Weightman put a penalty to touch and the forwards drove to the line from the lineout, with Garry Holmes coming up with the ball for his second try. The difficult conversion was missed. 12v0.

Rochdale finally came into the game, with play moving to between the two twenty two lines with both teams making errors to prevent any further breakthroughs.

Kendal looked as if they were about to add a third try, after a flowing move with a number of forwards making ground before offloading to players in support, but an ambitious floated pass to the wing, was intercepted and it looked as if Rochdale might get a breakaway try, but when the ball was chipped ahead Damian Armstrong got back to end the danger although conceded a scrum deep in the Kendal half.

Nathan Wooff added a penalty, to extend the lead to two scores, after James Gough was impeded when trying to get the ball away, after Wooff had been stopped after a good run into the twenty two. 15v0

After an earlier warning about slowing the ball down at the breakdown, the referee issued a yellow card to a Rochdale player.

Glenn Weightman put a long kick downfield, and when a Rochdale player gathered the ball, Zane Butler was up quickly to catch him, and Dini Noyo then drove the player to touch to give Kendal the throw.

Kendal stayed on the attack, and Rochdale were penalised three times in a row on their own line, but the referee took no further action. Finally the Kendal pack drove to the line with Glenn Chesher coming up with the ball. 20v0.

This was the final action of the first half. At half time Duncan Green was replaced by Jack Lashley.

Rochdale came back the more fired up for the second half. They immediately had Kendal under pressure, and forced a penalty that was put to touch. Their forwards drove from the lineout and looked certain to score, but the Kendal pack held them up. However from the resulting scrum, a gap opened for a Rochdale forward to go through for an unconverted try, after four minutes of play. 20v5.

There was worse for Kendal as in the build up to the try Garry Holmes had picked up a what appeared a serious injury, and after a five minute stoppage, had to be stretchered off the field, with Phil Murphy coming on to replace him, and the versatile Matty Houghton moving to hooker.

Thoughts of a Rochdale fight back were soon dampened, as Kendal again took control and kept Rochdale in their own half. After more pressure on the Rochdale line the referee issued a Red card to the Rochdale player carded in the first half, for again disrupting Kendal ball on the line.

Shortly afterwards Kendal had their bonus point fourth try, as the game entered its final quarter. From a lineout the forwards drove to the line. Jack Lashley broke away to the left, and when he was stopped James Gough broke away and quickly moved the ball to Zane Butler on the right to score in the corner. 25v5

This was the last action for James Gough as he came off to be replaced by Mark Carruthers, who went onto the wing with Dini Noyo moving to scrum half.

Replacement hooker Matty Houghton, was working well, with Phil Murphy lifted high to secure the ball at a number of line outs.

With ten minutes to play Kendal had their fifth try. A long Rochdale kick out of defence was returned by Nathan Wooff. The Rochdale defender dropped the ball, and instead of trying to pick the it up, Zane Butler hacked the ball through to the try line, before gathering it to score. Nathan Wooff added the conversion. 32v5

Kendal’s final try was set up after Josh Chaplow managed to gather a difficult pass and made ground. There was a break to the line and when the player was brought down near the line, Liam Hayton was in supported, but slipped as he tried to gather the ball, but Chris Downham was on hand to gather and force his way across the line for the try. 37v5

In injury time, Rochdale came back at Kendal, but were again held up on the line. Rochdale drove the resulting scrum to the line, but when the ball came out it was Zane Butler who reacted fastest to gather and breakaway. Some excellent inter-passing moved play to halfway, but a pass went astray to end the move.

Rochdale doubled their score with the final move of the game, scoring a try down the left wing. 37v10.

Despite the damp ground both teams try to move the ball, and there was little sign of the eight man rugby that these conditions often transform a game into.

A good Kendal performance, but the score would have been even higher, if a number of better options had been taken, when players looked to go themselves, rather than pass to players outside them.

KENDAL MAN OF THE MATCH : Chris Downham
a bumper vote this week, with eleven of the starting line up getting at least one vote, but again Chris leading by example topped the poll.

PHOTO : Matty Houghton and Phil Murphy combine (with a little help from the boster rockets) for the move that set up Zane Butler's first try.

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