Hull Just Too Good

Matt Charters had been injured at Wirral last weekend, so Alistair Thompson came in to replace him. In a change to the original selection, Nathan Wooff started on the right wing, with Kris Bratton retaining his place in the centre, and Danny Barker starting on the bench. Also on the bench was Craig Wilson who made his debut in 2000, and last played for the first XV in 2011.

Hull started well and there was an early blow for Kendal, with Jacob Sutton being forced off after just two minutes with an injury, which meant Craig Wilson made an early appearance.

Hull opened the scoring a minute later. Strong running, good support play, and fast offloading, saw the Kendal defence breached several times, and whilst the cover managed to repel a number of breaks, the ball was re-cycled and moved back to the left, where the star player in the first game, Stephen Hihetah, drove through some tackles and whilst stopped, regained his feet, and the moved continued for a try. 0v5

Kendal quickly had an opportunity to reduce the gap. The Hull back line was caught offside, and when the referee played advantage, Ben Leacock made a powerful break down the left. When the move came to nothing, the referee brought play back for the penalty, but the kick dropped short.

Jacob Sutton returned to the field, but only lasted two minutes, with Craig Wilson replacing him for the rest of the game.

Hull’s second try came after a quarter of an hour of play. Full back Lee Birch made a break down the left wing, and seemed to be sure to score, but Kris Bratton got back to drag him down. The ball was quickly re-cycled and moved to the other side of field, where right wing Michael Adlard was able to go over unopposed. Outside half Stephen Johnson added the conversion, 0v12.

There was another blow for Kendal as Kris Bratton had been injured in the build up to the try, and was forced off, with Danny Barker coming on to replace him.

Kendal were again having problems in the scrum, and after twenty five minutes a scrum exploded into an exchange of views (and other things) between the two packs. Kendal hooker Garry Holmes and Hull prop Benjamin Boothman were singled out, and both received yellow cards. Boothman continued to protest his innocence as he left the field.

As the game restarted with a scrum, Ross McKay was forced to go off, to allow Jack Lashley to come into the front row. With the first choice in the bin, and the second choice having been forced off injured, Lashley became a stand in hooker.

Five minute later Hull added their third try. Good work down the left saw the ball re-cycled and moved right, where fast footwork from right wing Michael Adlard, outpaced the Kendal defence, to score his second try, with Stephen Johnson again adding the conversion. 0v19.

The half ended with a string of Hull scrums on the Kendal line, with Kendal being penalised for the front row standing / being driven up, as Hull went for the line. Finally at the third attempt, the referee awarded a Penalty Try, which was the final action of the half. 0v26

Kendal started the second half fired up, and spent most of the first quarter of an hour in the Hull half, but the Hull defence was a good as their attack, and there were few opportunities. Chris Downham often coming up against a brick ball, as he tried to open up the defence. Matthew Kaye took a number of penalties quickly, but after making ground, was often isolated from any support.

After weathering the storm, Hull worked their way to the other end of the field, and more good build up work saw Michael Adlard go over for his third try, again converted by Stephen Johnson. 0v33

With ten minutes to play, Jack Lashley came on in place of Glenn Chesher.

Kendal had another good spell in the Hull half, and their hard work was finally rewarded as the game came to the end of normal time. Dini Noyo managing to find a way to weave through the Hull defence to score, with Chris Park adding the conversion 7v33.

The referee did not play any added time, and the score proved to be the final action of the game.

For a second time this season, the Kendal team threw everything at a Hull team, who were far from at their best, but still romped to a comfortable win. It is surprising their coach, ex-Welsh international outside half Gary Pearce, has any hair left, as he clearly realises improved concentrated will be the key to securing a play-off place, and then winning a promotion his team are certainly capable of.

It would have made no difference to the result, but Kendal had to play most of the game without both of their recent “men of the match”, whilst Craig Wilson has clearly kept himself very fit, showing few ill effects of having to play almost a full eighty minutes of rugby, against one of the best teams in the league.

A different challenge next weekend, as the team heads to relegated Birkenhead Park, who should have come away from Mintbridge with a win, but gave Kendal an early Christmas present, with their amazing decision not to take a simple kick at goal at the end of the game.

Your KENDAL MAN OF THE MATCH : Chris Downham
A typically barnstorming performance from Chris, left the others trailing, with Craig Wilson in a distance second