Kendal were boosted by the return of Liam Hayton and Reece Tomlinson who had both been unavailable for last week’s game at Wilmslow, but were still without Richard Harryman and Mark Carruthers. Garry Holmes started on the bench.
Kendal started the better and were soon putting pressure on the Wirral line. Twice the visitors managed to disrupted lineout ball, to prevent the Kendal forwards gaining momentum.
After five minutes the referee stopped the game after an injury to James Thompson, and whilst he was forced to hobble off, Kendal could not have had a better substitute, than season’s top try scorer Garry Holmes.
After Wirral had been forced into a poor clearance kick, Holmes was almost immediately in the action, in control as the forwards drove to the line after securing good lineout ball. Reece Tomlinson came up with the try. 5v0
All the good work was however almost immediately undone. From the kick off, a loose clearance kick was gathered by fullback James Annetts. Who fed wing Danny Harvey, and whilst he was quickly tackled by Ian Voortman, he was able to get the pass away to left wing Ali Baker, scorer of three tries in the away fixture at the start of the season, and he went unopposed from his own half to the try line. Annetts converted to give Wirral a lead they were not to surrender. 5v7.
Kendal had the better of the next ten minutes and were again on the attack, when Wirral turned defence into attack. The Kendal pack had set up a powerful drive down the centre of the field, but when the ball was released to the backs, a loose pass caused confusion, and wing Baker managed to steal the ball and again went from his own half to the line to double his teams lead, with Annetts making no mistake with the easy conversion. 5v14.
Kendal heads did not drop and the forwards kept pressure on the Wirral line, but could not find any way through an increasingly desperate defence, with the referee awarding Kendal a string of penalties.
Finally when already playing advantage for a Wirral offence, when James Gough was taken out when following a chip through the defence, the referee showed a yellow card to Wirral wing Danny Harvey.
The Wirral defence continued to hold firm but before Harvey was able to return to the game, he was joined on the touchline by outside half Sam Broadbent, after he was also shown a yellow card.
Wirral would have turned the happier at half time with their lead, and having withstood the late Kendal pressure.
Kendal started the second half as they had ended the first, on the attack. Alistair Thompson made good break, but when stopped the Wirral defence were able to regroup and hold Kendal out.
As the game continued both the Wirral players and their supporters, were becoming increasingly on edge, as they could not escape the Kendal attacking stranglehold, but Kendal still could not find a way through the defence.
The tension increase when after ten minutes Wirral scrum half Mike Warren became his team’s third player issued with a yellow card. This finally broke the Wirral resistance, when two minutes later, after the forwards had rumbled towards the line, James Gough broke away to scamper over for the try, which with the conversion from Chris Park, reduced the lead to less than a single score. 12v14.
Wirral finally came into the game, choosing to abandon their free flowing game, and resorting to a tight game, which whilst effective, played to the strengths of the hardworking Kendal pack.
Finally with a quarter of an hour to play, when the ball was moved quickly after a Wirral scrum, a gap in the Kendal defence was exploited by fullback James Annetts for a try, but the gap stayed within a single score when his conversion failed. 12v19.
Wirral had stepped up a gear and were quickly back on the attack. The tension was lifted with a fourth try, to give Wirral a vital bonus point and extend their led, when No.8 Rob Pearl crossed the line from close range. Annetts converted 12v26.
A sign of the Wirral tension, was when three minutes later, whilst dominant in attack, they choose to allow Annetts to kick easy penalty, to extend their lead. 12v29.
This decision was vindicated as Kendal had the better of the last ten minutes of play, but again could find any way through a resolute Wirral defence.
Kendal brought on Robbie Collinson for Billy Coxon and Matty Kaye for Brad Jackson. Collinson again contributing well, with his more experienced colleagues, as they looked for a consolation score.
As the game entered the last five minutes, Dan Lowther made an excellent break into the Wirral twenty two, but was unable to get a pass away to Jordan Johnson. Kendal stayed on the attack, but Glenn Chesher gave away a penalty and became the first Kendal player issued with a yellow card.
Wirral saw out the rest of the game and were justifiably able to celebrate a hard fought victory, which sealed their title as League Champions and their promotion. On the basis of this performance against a Kendal team with a number of players putting in their best performances of the season, Wirral should be able to hold their own in the higher league next season.
For Kendal, despite the result, it was a fitting finale, which may have been the last appearance in a Black and Amber shirt for a number of players.
Referee : Mike Adamson (Scottish RU)
Kendal | Wirral | |
Chris Park | 15 | James Annetts |
Brad Jackson | 14 | Danny Harvey |
Alistair Thompson | 13 | Chris Speed |
Ian Voortman | 12 | Phil Donaldson |
Jordan Johnson | 11 | Ali Baker |
Dan Lowther | 10 | Sam Broadbent |
James Gough (C) | 9 | Mike Warren |
Glenn Chesher | 1 | Mattew Brown |
Duncan Green | 2 | Jack Yarker |
Billy Coxon (16) | 3 | Chris Hughes |
James Thompson | 4 | Ryan Speed |
5 | Colin Dyer | |
Liam Nicholson | 6 | Ross Page |
Matty Houghton | 7 | Joe Adnams |
Garry Holmes | 8 | Rob Pearl (C) |
Garry Holmes (17) | sub | Dave Doneo (16) |
Robbie Collinson (18) | sub | Chris Burrows |
Matty Kaye (19) | sub | Paul Lewis |
Score | Team | No | Name | Time | Kendal | Wirral | |
Sub off | Kendal | 8 | James Thompson | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
Sub on | Kendal | 17 | Garry Holmes | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
Try | Kendal | 5 | Reece Tomlinson | 5 | 5 | 0 | |
Try | Wirral | 11 | Ali Baker | 7 | 5 | 5 | |
Con | Wirral | 15 | James Annetts | 8 | 5 | 7 | |
Try | Wirral | 11 | Ali Baker | 11 | 5 | 12 | |
Con | Wirral | 15 | James Annetts | 15 | 5 | 14 | |
Sub off | Wirral | 16 | Dave Doneo | 28 | 5 | 14 | |
Sub on | Wirral | 6 | Ross Page | 28 | 5 | 14 | |
Y/C | Wirral | 14 | Danny Harvey | 32 | 5 | 14 | |
Y/C | Wirral | 10 | Sam Broadbent | 41 | 5 | 14 | |
= = = | = = = | = = = | HALF TIME | 40+3 | 5 | 14 | |
Y/C | Wirral | 9 | Mike Warren | 51 | 5 | 14 | |
Try | Kendal | 9 | James Gough | 53 | 10 | 14 | |
Con | Kendal | 15 | Chris Park | 54 | 12 | 14 | |
Try | Wirral | 15 | James Annetts | 64 | 12 | 19 | |
Try | Wirral | 8 | Rob Pearl | 69 | 12 | 24 | |
Con | Wirral | 15 | James Annetts | 70 | 12 | 26 | |
Pen | Wirral | 15 | James Annetts | 73 | 12 | 29 | |
Sub off | Kendal | 16 | Billy Coxon | 74 | 12 | 29 | |
Sub on | Kendal | 18 | Robbie Collinson | 74 | 12 | 29 | |
Sub off | Kendal | 14 | Brad Jackson | 74 | 12 | 29 | |
Sub on | Kendal | 19 | Matty Kaye | 74 | 12 | 29 | |
Y/C | Kendal | 1 | Glen Chesher | 81 | 12 | 29 | |
= = = | = = = | = = = | FULL TIME | 84 | 12 | 29 |