First Team Bounce Back with Eight Try Bonus Point Victory

a number of today’s young squad members, were to have their own impact on this game.

Despite ideal weather for rugby, the previous weekend’s result had clearly deter many, and there was a disappointing crowd, but those who stayed away missed an entertaining afternoon.

Kendal made an excellent start. Good line out ball was moved to stand in fullback Jamie Postlethwaite who made a break. When he was stopped, captain James Gough, back in his favoured scrum half role, was on hand to move the ball quickly to the right wing, where Jordan Johnson made a strong run to the corner to score, in only the second minute of the game. Chris Park put over a difficult conversion. 7v0

The lead was doubled five minutes later. Pressure on the Altrincham kicker after a Kendal kick deep into the twenty two, saw a poor return kick to touch. The forwards took clean ball, and drove to the line for Liam Hayton to emerge with the ball. Chris Park again put over a difficult conversion 14v0.

Altrincham were beginning to trouble the Kendal defence, with strong running centre Kashley Watkins causing a number of problems, but Kendal were continuing to attack themselves. A good run by Dan Lowther set up left wing Alistair Thompson, but when stopped near the line, there was no support for him, and a penalty was conceded to allow Altrincham to clear.

Altrincham looked to open their scoring with a penalty, when the dominant Kendal pack were penalised at a scrum, but the kick went wide.

Kendal’s third try came with almost half an hour played. Billy Coxon made a break down the left touchline, Alistair Thompson carried the move on, but was again stopped short of the line. Altrincham were caught offside at the breakdown and from the resulting lineout, the forwards drove to the line for No.8 Garry Holmes to score. 19v0.

Kendal were on the attack again, when the referee sent Altrincham flanker Ben Davies to the sin bin, for not releasing after tackle. Twice penalties were put to touch, but the forwards could not repeat their earlier successes, and on the second attempt were penalised for obstruction as they drove to the line.

With three minutes of the half to play, a loose Kendal kick out of defence, resulted in Altrincham’s first score. The ball was run back and poor tackling took play to the try line. It looked as if the threat had been ended, but the referee adjudged illegally, sending James Gough to the sin bin, and awarding a Penalty try, converted by centre Harry Luscombe. 19v7.

A minute later Altrincham were back in the game. Taking advantage of more weak tackling, a break was made through the centre. There seemed to have been a knock on, but the referee appeared to indicate the ball had hit a Kendal player, and was moved to the left wing for a try, again converted by Luscombe. 19v14.

Kendal quickly re-grouped and a powerful run by young flanker Blake Robinson, saw them attacking the Altrincham line on the whistle for half time.

The late Altrincham comeback, and several second half collapses in recent games, sparked fears at half time, but these were quickly quashed as Kendal came out strongly for the second half.

Ian Voortman made an excellent solo run to the line, but when he was stopped there was no one in support to take the scoring pass. However from the resulting scrum, Garry Holmes picked up quickly and powered over unopposed for his second try, to give Kendal their first League point of the season with a bonus point. 24v14.

Five minutes later Jamie Postlethwaite showed what he could do if given a bit of space to work with. The ball was turned over in midfield and quickly moved to the left wing, where Postlethwaite put in an electrifying side stepping run from halfway to the line for a try. 29v14.

The score was almost immediately cancelled out. Kendal were on the attack and the ball was moved into the centre, but Ian Voortman could not take the pass. Altrincham quickly gathered the loose ball and a clever chip over the Kendal defence, was gathered for a try in the right hand corner, converted by Luscombe 29v21.

Kendal were soon back on the attack, with right wing Alistair Thompson evading two high tackles, and when the move broke down, the referee sent Altrincham centre Kashley Watkins to the sin bin.

Chris Park could not covert the penalty, but Kendal stayed on the attack and after they were awarded a penalty near the line, centre Dan Lowther caught the defence by taking the penalty quickly to power over for the try. Park made up for his earlier miss putting over the more difficult conversion. 36v21.

The next score came from another strong run from flanker Blake Robinson, who took several tacklers with him as he powered down the right touchline. When he was finally stopped, the ball was taken on by Richard Harryman, who made a good run into the twenty two, and when caught near the line, right wing Jordan Johnson was on hand for his second try of the afternoon. Chris Park again put over a difficult conversion 43v21.

A quickly taken penalty, by James Gough, saw him impeded by a Altrincham player who became the fourth to visit the sin bin.

After the loss of an Altrincham prop, the game moved to uncontested scrums, which benefited them in the build up to their next try. Without pressure on their scrum, the ball was moved quickly from deep in the Kendal half, with good running and weak tackling taking play to the Kendal line. From the resulting scrum, the ball was again moved wide and more missed tackles saw a try in midfield. 43v28.

With two minutes of normal time to go, Kendal’s final try came from substitute James Thompson, who had come on for Ben Leacock at half time. The Kendal forwards stole Altrincham ball, and when the ball was moved to Thompson, he made a powerful run from outside the twenty two, and despite being tackled before the line was able to reach it to score. 48v28.

Altrincham had the final word in injury time. Another break through the centre appeared to be assisted by a knock on, but the referee waved play on for the thirteenth try of the afternoon. 48v35.

The Kendal coaches will be pleased with a much improved performance, and especially with the contribution of their younger players, whilst the old guard showed there is still plenty of life in them. There is still much for them to work on, especially the fragile midfield defence and the frequency that hard won ball is kicked away to allow the opposition to mount attacks, whilst opportunities were often missed either due to lack of support or support players being missed, leading to attacks being snuffed out, but if they can build on this performance things could be looking a lot brighter this season.

Referee : Ben Blain (Cumbria Society)

Missing Altrincham Kersal scorers – and correction of any errors in the Kendal scoring, once I have more details

Kendal Changes from selected team
19 Jamie Postlethwaite (playing fullback instead of left wing)
14 Jordon Johnson replaced Leo Mercer (15)
13 Dan Lowther from 12
12 Ian Voortman from 13
11 Alistair Thompson moved from 14
4 Liam Hayton from 5
5 Ben Leacock (replaced at half time by 18 James Thompson)
7 Blake Robinson replaced Rob Quarry (8)
8 Garry Holmes moved from 7