Simply Magnificent

and hard as they tried Wilmslow simply did not have a look in, and only some stout defence kept the score down.

Kendal dominated the opening exchanges, playing at a high pace, which clearly was stretching some of the larger Wilmslow forwards, but the defence held firm. When Wilmslow had the ball, the Kendal defence forced a number of risky offloads, as the Wilmslow backs looked to run out of defence.

After Wilmslow had weathered the early Kendal pressure, the opening score came from a Wilmslow re-start kick. Liam Hayton gathered the ball in his own half and made a good run. Play continued down the left, and when the ball was spun out to the right, Nathan Wooff did well to gather a difficult pass, but could not get a pass away to Zane Butler, in space. Instead the referee brought play back for Wilmslow offside in mid-field, and Glenn Weightman slotted the kick over 3v0.

Both teams continued to play expansive rugby. When he spotted a gap on the left hand side of the field, Nathan Wooff put a long kick across field. Whilst the defence scrambled back, Matty Houghton was up quick to force a Wilmslow error. This set up a position from which Wilmslow conceded a penalty for Glenn Weightman to double the Kendal lead. 6v0.

Despite seeming to have a much lighter pack, Kendal had the upper hand in the scrum, and twice stole ball on the Wilmslow put in.

The first try came after Kendal had trapped Wilmslow deep in their own twenty two. When several attempts to run the ball clear failed, it was finally kicked to touch, but Zane Butler took a quick throw to Nathan Wooff, and after he had made ground, the ball was moved to Mark Carruthers on the right. When he was stopped Damian Armstrong took the moved on, and finally the forwards drove over from short range, with Liam Hayton coming up with the try, which Glenn Weightman converted. 13v0.

Wilmslow came straight back into the game, having their best spell of play, and Kendal were forced to concede a number of penalties. After failing to break the Kendal defence, Wilmslow finally went for the posts with scrum half Oli Wilkinson (?) putting over a penalty 13v3.

Kendal quickly re-established control, and a second try came from a scrum near halfway. James Gough picked up and passed to Mark Carruthers, who broke the first tackle, and was only stopped by a desperate second. The ball was moved into mid-field where Liam Hayton gathered a difficult pass to make ground, and when the ball came back, Glenn Weightman and Damian Armstrong released Zane Butler who powered over to score in the corner. 18v3.

Kendal were on the attack again at the half time whistle, and were not flattered by their lead.

Kendal came out for the second half maintaining the high pace, and Wilmslow’s attempts to run the ball from defence became increasingly desperate, but Kendal could find no way to open them up.

After quarter of an hour Kendal made their first change with Dom Musetti coming on for Jack Lashley.

The Kendal backs were growing in confidence. Glenn Weightman managed to steal Wilmslow ball and got the ball to Mark Carruthers in support, who made good ground down the left wing, and was only stopped by desperate Wilmslow defence, which took forced him into touch.

The pace of the Kendal play was beginning to tell on Wilmslow, who conceded a number penalties.

Finally after half an hour, Kendal made their scrum dominance pay. When awarded a scrum close to the Wilmslow line, after Wilmslow debated bringing back one of their starting props, they were driven over the line, with No.8 Chris Downham dropping on the ball for the try. Glenn Weightman added the conversion. 25v3.

Immediately after the score, Kendal made their second substitution with Chris Park coming on for Mark Carruthers.

The score fired up Wilmslow, who had their best spell of the half, and after some desperate Kendal defence, a poor pass to the left wing, was well gathered for Wilmslow’s opening try. 25v8.

Kendal made further changes with Ben Leacock replacing Josh Coyle and Jack Lashley returning in place of Glenn Chesher.

Kendal again stepped the pace up looking for a fourth try, and desperate Wilmslow defence saw the referee issued scrum half Oli Wilkinson with a yellow card.

Glenn Weightman looked as if he would get the score as again he scythed through the Wilmslow defence, but stumbled and whilst he kept his footing, his momentum was lost, to allow the defence to get back.

When Wilmslow were penalised at the resulting scrum, James Gough took the penalty quickly. Whilst he was stopped on the line, with the referee playing advantage, several forwards tried to force their way over, and finally it was captain Duncan Green who burrowed over for a real Bonus point try, which Glenn Weightman converted. 32v8.

Both teams looked for further scores in injury time, but this was the final score.

An excellent game between two teams who tried to play expansive rugby, with the victory owing as much to the excellent defence as the attacking play, whilst Wilmslow’s defence did extremely well to deal with Kendal when they hit top gear.

So another step forwards, and a play-off position is now guaranteed, but Kendal will need to keep the same level of intensity to avoid any slip ups in the next two games, before the potential decider game at Mint Bridge, in three weeks’ time.

Things do not get easier for Wilmslow, who host Kirkby Lonsdale next weekend, and the Kendal support will be hoping they can deny their visitors points.

KENDAL MAN OF THE MATCH : Liam Hayton
As expected plenty of competition this week with twelve of the starting line up getting a vote, but Liam came out top, just edging out Glenn Weightman