Another Good Home Performance and Bonus Point Win

After the young team fielded at Birkenhead Park, the old heads were back, but there were a number of other changes. Nathan Woof came in for Jamie Postlethwaite, whose dislocated shoulder at Birkenhead Park, will keep out for some time. James Thompson continued in the second row, for the injured Liam Hayton, playing with Reece Thomlinson who was returning from injury. A late change saw Ben Craghill swap places with Alistair Thompson, who moved to the bench.

Warrington started the better, with Kendal conceding a penalty after the visitors had set up a good position, when the Kendal forwards failed to gather the kick off. Fortunately the kick went wide.

At an early line out Warrington employed an interesting tactic, with all players crouching low to the ground on the Kendal throw, but then not challenging for the ball. This was soon abandoned for more traditional line outs.

Warrington opened the scoring after five minutes, when their outside half turned a poor pass into an opportunity to break through a static Kendal defence. A long pass saw the ball moved to the right wing for a try, which was converted 7v0.

As the game progressed the Kendal pack started to dominate, and James Gough kept the ball moving quickly, to keep the opposition defence on its toes. Frequent Kendal mistakes meant that opportunities were not being converted.

Kendal were finally on level terms after a quarter of an hour of play. A flowing move was disrupted by a high tackle, and the resulting penalty was put to touch by Dan Lowther. Whilst the forwards drive to the line was stopped, the referee saw another infringement, and from a second lineout the forwards made no mistake, with Garry Holmes emerging with the ball. Chris Park put over the conversion. 7v7.

Five minutes later Kendal took the lead. Jordon Johnson, made a powerful break down the left wing. When he was stopped, he managed to kept the ball alive, and the support players moved the ball across the field for Ben Craghill to score on the opposite wing. There did appear to be forward pass in the move, but the referee was happy and the try stood. Chris Park converted again. 14v7.

As the half progressed both teams had opportunities, but frequent mistakes meant neither was able to make a break through before half time. There was a bit of magic from James Gough, to steal the ball from the back of a Warrington scrum, but his good work was wasted as a pass later went directly into touch. Ian Voortman was also having a difficult afternoon, failing to gather a number of passes, to end promising moves.

Warrington started the second half the better, whilst Kendal minds still seemed to still be in the changing room. They ran the kick off back at Kendal, poor tackling allowed a good break through the middle, and whilst this was stopped by Ben Craghil, who had moved to fullback after Nathan Woof had been forced off in the first half, a failure of the defence to get back into position meant a penalty was conceded. With the Kendal defence still out of position, the penalty was taken quickly and the ball moved to the left wing for the try. The conversion failed so Kendal hung on to a slender lead. 14v12

Kendal soon re-established their lead, with Ian Voortman making up for his earlier errors, with a powerful break down the left hand touchline. When the ball was re-cycled into midfield, Warrington conceded a penalty, and whilst the referee played advantage, with few options available, James Gough put through what initially appeared a totally innocuous chip. The bounce of the ball however fooled the Warrington defence behind their own try line. Dan Lowther had followed the kick, to pluck the ball out of the air and fall to the ground for the try. Chris Park converted 21v12

The gap was quickly narrowed again. The Kendal pack seemed to be in total control of a maul, when the referee spotted an infringement and the successful penalty reduced the gap to a single score again 21v15.

The Kendal defence then had to withstand a long period of Warrington dominance, and the fitness and faster movement of their opponents seemed to be stretching the Kendal defence to the limits, but it held firm. Unfortunately, the lineout was again having problems again, and opportunities to escape the stranglehold were squandered, and too often hard won ball was again aimlessly kicked back to the opposition.

Frequently Kendal were not committing players to the breakdown, allowing Warrington easy ball, but when the pack came back together as a unit it paid dividends. Chris Park stopped a player in midfield, keeping him on his feet and stopping the release of the ball. When the pack joined him they forced a turnover of possession. A strong drive at the resulting scrum, saw Warrington concede a penalty, which Chris Park slotted over to increase the gap beyond a single score again. 24v15

Having survived the Warrington attack on their line, Kendal went now searching for their fourth try, for a bonus point. Dan Lowther made a break down the left and when stopped, Warrington were penalised. The ball was put to touch and after good work from the pack the ball was spread wide. It look as if Duncan Green had scored, after some excellent work by James Gough to get a pass away, but the referee spotted a knock on. The Warrington relief was however short lived. The Kendal pack drove their opponents off the ball, and when Warrington conceded a penalty, an attacking scrum was taken. The forwards vindicated this decision by driving to the line for Rob Quarry, who had earlier come on for Garry Holmes, to score. 29v15

Kendal saw out the remaining minutes, but there was a worry at the end, when influential captain James Gough hobbled off.

The coaches should be well pleased with another promising performance, but will look to cut out the first half errors, and deal with concerns about fitness in the middle of the second half, as they head to Carlisle next weekend, in search of that elusive away victory.

Referee : Daniel Taylor

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For anyone thinking of making the fairly short trip to Carlisle next weekend, the ground is on Warwick Road about a mile off junction 43 of the M6 (right next to the Brunton Park football ground). The ground is on the right shortly after the Brunton Park traffic lights (it is sign posted on the left). If you get to the next traffic lights at the church, you’ve missed it – turn around the church and go back the way you came. Beware their car park is quite small and a lot of the surrounding streets are in “Disc Zone” parking – but the good news is Carlisle United (football) are away next weekend, so there will be less traffic in the area (you may even be able to use their car park).

Why not bring the whole family and make a day of it. Carlisle has a busy shopping centre, a Castle, Cathedral and the award winning Tullie House museum, with plenty of information and displays on the Roman Britain, for any younger supporters doing it at School this year.