Kirkby put an end to the Winning Streak

Kendal had the better of the opening exchanges, but were thwarted by an enthusiastic tight Kirkby defence. Several kickable penalties were spurned, with the ball instead being put to touch, but the Kirkby defence held firm, against a number of drives from the resulting line outs by the Kendal pack.

With ten minutes played, Chris Park put over a long range penalty 3v0.

Dan Lowther was having another excellent game, frequently finding gaps in the Kirkby defence, but could never quite escape the desperate cover.

With the referee frequently penalising Kirkby at the breakdown, Chris Park had an attempt to extend the lead, but the kick sailed wide.

Kendal’s second score came from another penalty close to halfway. A long Dan Lowther kick took play deep into the Kirkby twenty two. Having resisted one drive, after another penalty, the Kirkby defence was finally broken as the Kendal pack drove Reece Tomlinson over for the try. Park converted 10v0.

Kirkby then had their best spell of play of the half, and from a line out on the right, the ball was move quickly infield, before being returning to the right wing, where a strong run ended in an unconverted try. 10v5.

Kendal struck back almost immediately. Liam Hayton took the restart kick and made good ground down the left. The ball was recycled infield, and with possibly his first touch of the ball, debutant Olly Field made a mazy run down right beating a number of would be tacklers. When the move was stopped, Kendal were awarded a scrum. Rob Quarry broke quickly, and fed the ball to James Gough down the right. Dan Lowther took the ball on at pace, drew his man, and delivered a perfect pass to Olly Field who stormed to the line for an excellent unconverted try. 15v5.

Kendal had another opportunity to score before half time, but after a flowing move, Chris Park was just not able to get the ball down near the left hand corner flag.

The opening quarter of the second half was played between the two, twenty twos, with Kirkby coming much more into the game.

Another Dan Lowther break, carried on by Ian Voortman, looked like a certain try, but his poor final pass to wing Alistair Thompson meant the chance was lost.

After ten minutes Ian Voortman and ex team mate Dave Barton, exchanged punches on the ground and were sent to the sin bin for ten minutes.

After quarter of an hour, Kendal had a line out on the left. Three Kendal forwards headed to the right wing, and when the move was stopped in midfield, Kirkby used their superior numbers to turn the ball over, with flanker Storey exploiting a large gap in the Kendal midfield to romp home for the try, which was converted. 15v12.

Kirkby’s winning score came from a line out on the left, after a kick had been put down the line, and Ian Voortman had been forced to concede the throw in. The ball was moved quickly, and outside half Barton dummy a pass, to ghost over for try and the lead. The easy conversion kick from in front of the posts bounced back off the crossbar. 15v17.

With twenty minutes still to play, Kirkby continued to dominate and looked the more likely to score, and whilst the Kendal defence held out, there were few chances to break out of defence.

In injury time, Kendal moved the ball up field, but when the move broken down, the referee blew for full time.

Kirkby’s supporters celebrated a hard earned victory, whilst Kendal’s pondered what might have been, after another lacklustre second half display, although this was mainly due to the spirited Kirkby performance.

Whilst this was a game that Kendal could, and probably should have won if they had taken their chances, Kirkby Lonsdale were full value for their narrow victory.