Thanks to Doug Coates (one of our Yorkshire based supporters) for a report on the game (with some extra information in italics from the Driffield report)

Also thanks to Andrew Blenkharn for his report

On a bright but cold sunny afternoon Kendal faced a strong bitter wind and defended well but hardly entered the opposition's half in the first twenty minutes by which time Dini Noyo had already had to leave the field. Kendal conceded the first try (wing Tom Brankley) after just seven minutes the second after about twenty minutes (No.8 Matt Bowman) and then a third (replacement Sam Robson) without reply however we did get a try back just before half-time (Glenn Chesher from short range converted by Evan Moir.

Driffield didn't seem to take full advantage of the wind and having got seven points back just before half-time I thought that Kendal could well go on to win the game however we conceded another try (scrum half Joe Girking) almost immediately after the restart and made it more difficult for ourselves.

Evan Moir did make much ground with some accurate long kicks keeping Driffield pinned in their own 22 for sustained periods but with their bigger pack managing to keep our marauding forwards at bay before we eventually got the score back to 20 - 19 with several minutes still to play.

I thought we might have just nicked it in the end but Driffield held on. I thought the young new scrum half (Tommy Scanlan) gave a good account of himself on his debut and deserved a mention.

The referee was very quick to penalise at the breakdown but was very consistent and only issued one yellow card - to a Driffield player (centre Jack Sowerby). We failed to take advantage when they were down to fourteen.

Overall I felt it was a good determined effort which hopefully will keep us in this league next season but missed the solidity of Joe Anderson in the front row.

Hope you don't mind me being your Yorkshire correspondent but there was a real dearth of visiting Kendal support no doubt due the long distance they had to travel.

A dry but cold day with a strong wind blowing across and down the pitch which would have a strong influence on how the game was managed by both teams.

Kendal travelled well with no delays on the journey and arrived with plenty of time for the usual warm up routines. Also a good turnout of support for the team with folks travelling on the team bus and plenty more by car.

A strong start from Driffield saw them use the weather advantage but more so powerful running and driving mauls from their line out and saw them reach a 15-0 advantage within 20 minutes through 3 unconverted tries. Thankfully their kicker had a bad day and didn’t add any points.

Kendal despite a couple of early lineout issues and being on the back foot defended very well and tried with limited success to run the ball out of defence, it was hard work against a big and disciplined Driffield outfit but better to hold possession for longish spells rather than kick the ball away into the wind.

Tommy Scanlan who had replaced Dini Noyo after 15 minutes due to injury was having an outstanding game, quick to the breakdown with quick and accurate passing really helping the team keep momentum. The other change in the 1st half saw Ben Leacock replace Connor Lees which saw some swapping of positions at scrums.

Kendal’s aggressive tackling, brave attacking style of carrying ball and keeping momentum was rewarded right on half time with a converted try, well deserved and Driffield who left the field at half time will have been frustrated not to lead by more where in contrast Kendal stayed out and were clearly buoyed by the contained score line from a half spent largely on the back foot.

Driffield scored their 4th try within a minute after the restart. Two ways of looking at the try, from a Kendal point of view disappointing with a couple of missed tackles on the scorer in midfield and a lack of cover as he progressed, but from Driffields view an excellent solo try, again unconverted.

Kendal lost Dane Blenkharn to a shoulder injury after 10 minutes replaced by Jonny Swallow.

Aside from a significant domination of the scrum by Driffield and an occasional charge into Kendal territory it was Kendal who then largely dominated the second half, with lineouts working well, quick pick and runs by Patrick Wolstenholme off the back of retreating scrums and positional kicking from Evan Moir using the wind resulting in two well worked tries and a conversion.

Connor Lees returned late on in the game to replace Matt Houghton.

At 20-19 with a bit of time to play it was just a question of whether Kendal could make a breakthrough to take the game. Plenty of attacking possession, phase after phase of good play but Driffield defended well and were disciplined in not conceding a penalty opportunity. Finally with the last play of the game a series of rucks followed by quick ball created the chance and it appeared Kendal must score, only for the ball to be knocked on.

Overall a good performance considering being behind to 3 tries early on, at that point there only looked to be one winner but this young Kendal team showed real character to fight their way back and would be disappointed to be making the long trip home on the back of a 1 point defeat that could easily have been a win.

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Patrick Wolstenholme

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