Another Good Performace and Away Win

Garry Holmes came into the back row in place of Josh Coyle, whilst James Gough returned at scrum half, with Dini Noyo moving to the left wing, and Nathan Wooff to fullback, in place of Chris Park. Damian Armstrong came in on the right wing, with Joe Hambley moving to the bench.

Whilst Cleckheaton were at the wrong end of the table, they had only been beaten by more than eight points once, away at second place Rossendale, and reports suggest had been unlucky to fail to add to their two wins so far this season.

Kendal had a poor start, failing to gather the kick-off which gave Cleckheaton ball to attack, but a powerful Danny Barker tackle, ended the move by forcing a knock-on. Kendal were then penalised as they ran the ball from the resulting scrum, but the penalty kick did not hit the target.

Cleckheaton continued to dominate, but it was Kendal who were to open the scoring on their first visit to the Cleckheaton half. After a scrum in his own half, Glenn Weightman put a kick through which beat the two Cleckheaton defenders. Whilst they then gathered the ball, Chris Downham arrived to put in a crunching tackle and steal the ball. As the referee played advantage for a penalty, Zane Butler made a run onto the twenty two, and when the ball came back, Nathan Wooff joined the back line, chipping the ball over the defence, and did very well to re-gather the ball low down, to go over for the score. Glenn Weightman added the conversion. 0v7, after ten minutes

Cleckheaton continued to dominate possession and were moving the ball at pace, but this led to frequent handling errors, which meant they seldom threatened a score.

After twenty five minutes, on a second visit to the Cleckheaton half, Kendal extended their lead. With the referee playing advantage, a chip was put to the corner for Zane Butler to chase, he could not gather, and nor could Garry Holmes in support, so the referee called play back for Glenn Weightman to put the penalty over. 0v10.

Shortly afterwards there was a blow for Kendal, as after taking a few knocks, Chris Downham was forced off. He was replaced by Willy Hintz who had another good game.

Cleckheaton finally opened their account, just after the half hour mark, when Kendal were penalised for handling at a ruck. 3v10. Five minutes later they finally added to this with their first try, as the Kendal defence finally ran out of bodies, and exploiting a big overlap, a back row man cut inside to score. The successful conversion tied the scores. 10v10.

Kendal almost immediately had the chance to regain the lead. Duncan Green put in a good tackle after the kick off, forcing a penalty for failing to release, but the kick failed to hit the target.

Instead it was Cleckheaton who got the lead with a try in injury time. 15v10.

Despite the late score, Cleckheaton should have been disappointed with the slender margin of their lead after such a dominant half, and were soon made to pay.

Kendal started the second half at a high pace, and forced an early penalty, but the kick again failed to hit the target. Glen Weightman soon made up for this, as for a second week he took advantage of a defence watching the powerful centres outside him, to break through himself, and then had the pace to beat the remaining defenders to score. He added the conversion to retake the lead. 15v17.

Things were to get better five minutes later. Dini Noyo ran a kick out of defence back. He found Zane Butler, who after making ground offloaded to Danny Barker, who looked likely to score, but slight hesitation allowed the defence to get back. Glenn Weightman then tried to break through, but when he was stopped, the ball was moved wide, and Danny Barker took his second chance to go through for the score. 15v22.

Both teams had chances, but the next score did not come for almost twenty minutes. After a number of offences, a Cleckheaton centre was issued with a yellow card, and Glenn Weightman put the kick over to extend the lead to two scores. 15v25.

Richard Harryman came on in place of Blake Robinson, and moved into the second row at scrums, with James Thompson moving back.

Despite being a man down, Cleckheaton had the better of the play, but the Kendal defence stood firm.

In injury time Danny Barker was adjudged to have deliberately knocked on to end a Cleckheaton attack, and was yellow carded. With victory outside of their reach, Cleckheaton took the kick to try to get a losing bonus point, but on what had been a poor day for the kickers, it failed to hit the target and was the last action of the game.

Another good performance, especially in defence where the fast ball handing and good support work of Cleckheaton could have caused problems, as it kept probing for an opening which did not appear.

When the Kendal back division had the ball it looked dangerous, with Glenn Weightman and James Gough often switching position to keep play moving.

Despite a long break from first team action, Garry Holmes had a good game, and Willy Hintz again showed there will be plenty of competition for the back row spots.

A really tough test awaits next weekend, with the visit of second place Rossendale to Mint Bridge. Don’t forget with the clocks going back this weekend, kick off will be at 2.00pm until the Spring, so get there early and don’t miss a minute.

WEBSITE MAN OF THE MATCH : Willie Hintz
Just edging out last week's winner Danny Barker, and Glenn Weightman.

HISTORY NOTE
For those of you who were at the game, and doubted the programme note that we last played Cleckheaton on 2004/05. You were right!

This was the sixth meeting between the clubs, the first was in 1932, but after that the next was in 2004/05, when both clubs won their home games. We played them again the next season, where we lost both games (not surprising as this was the Centenary season where we only won once in the league). Both games took place in the space of three weeks in February, as the home game had been postponed in November.

We then played them again in 2007/08, where both games were won (again no surprise as we went through the season undefeated in the league).

So the away fixture on 1st March 2008, was therefore the last meeting before this weekend. Tries from Billy Coxon, Andrew Hudson, e, John Ladell and Chris Park, with three converted by Dan Stephens in a 23v9 win.

Of this weekend's squad James Gough, Richard Harryman, Duncan Green. Liam Hayton and Garry Holmes also played in that game

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