A return to Mint Bridge for only the second time this season, having already played four away games, looking to restore the form that took the team to four wins to start the season, after the narrow loss at Waterloo a fortnight ago.
Visitors Broughton Park came in to the game without a win, but were a game behind, and had faced two of the top three, and picked up losing bonus points in the other two games.
There were a number of changes to the Kendal squad: Matt Houghton and Steven Nelson were at weddings, whilst Danny Barker was looking after his child (who was at the ground with him). Hugh Davies was out injured. Dane Blenkharn retained his place in the back row, with Ross McKay taking the other spot. Tom Moulton came into the front row, and Mark Carruthers into the centre.
Not a good start for Kendal, as a handling error gave Broughton Park the ball back from the kick off, then a penalty put them on the attack. Reece Tomlinson went close to stealing the lineout ball, but it came back on the Broughton Park side, and they put Kendal under pressure in the twenty two.
Then totally against the run of play, and possibly with the first legal touch of the ball for Kendal, they had the lead. Ben Dixon took Broughton Park ball close to his own line, and set off on a length of the field run. He seemed second favourite against the Broughton Park backs, but several slight changes of pace, totally threw his pursuers and he managed to go in under the posts, with Chris Park adding the conversion for a most unlikely lead. 7v0
Broughton Park continued to have the better of play, keeping the ball through multiple phases at speed, whilst the new Kendal line-up seemed to be struggling to put fluent moves together, but were coming more into the game.
After quarter of an hour Kendal doubled their lead. The pack had several good drives from lineouts but Broughton Park had managed to stop them. This time when a ball came back, Glen Weightman opened up the Broughton Park defence, and whilst stopped on the line, he got the ball away to James Gough to go over from short range, with Chris Park also in support. Chris Park added the conversion 14v0
Ex Kendal player, Rory Blakeney-Edwards, who had re-joined Broughton Park after getting work in Manchester, opened his teams scoring after twenty five minutes with a penalty. 14v3
After half an hour of play, Glen Weightman used one of the new laws to roll a kick from just inside his own half, into the Broughton Park twenty two, to give Kendal an attacking lineout. Reece Tomlinson gathered the throw and the pack drove for the line. With the referee already playing advantage, when Broughton Park players came in to stop the move on the line, the referee awarded a penalty try, 21v3
Quick thinking by Broughton Park saw them go for a quick re-start, with no conversion required. The kick was also switched to the left and put low. It almost backfired as Ben Dixon got to the ball first, but could not control it, and just knocked it back into Broughton Park hands. With the Kendal defence out of position, gaps were exploited to set up Broughton Park’s first try, that Blakeney-Edwards converted 21v10.
Kendal had a chance to hit back immediately. Pressure caused the re-start kick to be knocked on by Broughton Park, and then a Broughton Park player in front picked it up, to give Kendal a penalty that was put to touch, but the move came to nothing, and the score stayed the same at half time.
There was an early blow for Kendal when, already missing several influential players, Reece Tomlinson limped off. Chris Evans came on for his first game of the season, after missing early games due to cricketing commitments.
Chris Park extended the Kendal lead with a penalty after twelve minutes, to mean Broughton Park had to outscore Kendal by two converted tries to get a draw. 24v10
This signalled further Kendal changes, with Dan Lowther and Alistair Thompson coming on for Chris Park and Liam Hayton.
Chris Evans opened the Broughton Park defence up with a good run, but his pass was knocked on in the tackle.
The Kendal scrum had already been under pressure after the loss of Tomlinson, and with Liam Hayton’s departure, Broughton Park had total control and were clearly playing for penalties, to drive them into Kendal territory.
After twenty minutes Broughton Park added a second try. Good forward work opened a gap, and the right wing Josh Maddock went over, with Rory Blakeney Edwards adding the conversion to put his team who were now on top, within seven points. 24v17
This saw a further change with Liam Hayton returning for Ross McKay, which seemed to steady the scrum.
Just after half an hour the lead was down to two points. There was a cross field kick from Broughton Park and Kris Bratton found himself up against two Broughton Park players (from where I was standing one looked way in front of the kicker). Rory Blakeney-Edwards could not add the conversion, so Kendal retained a narrow lead. 24v22.
Kris Bratton was injured in the build up to the try, and was replaced by Chris Park, whilst Ross McKay returned for Tom Moulton, with Liam Hayton moving into the front row.
With Broughton Park on top, Kendal dug deep and when awarded a penalty, Glen Weightman put the kick to the corner. The pack won the ball, and with a little help from Weightman and James Gough inched to the line, with Greg Wrathall getting the important touchdown. Chris Park then added a difficult conversion to extend the lead to nine points. 31v22
Play continued, but there was no chance for another Broughton Park score, to earn a bonus point that their performance certainly deserved.
After such a good display, the mystery is how Broughton Park are without a win so far this season, with a performance on par with Waterloo and Penrith, who sit in third and fourth.
For Kendal a difficult afternoon, missing so many key players, and whilst those who came in played well, players like Danny Barker, Matt Houghton and Steven Nelson, play a key roles in defence, where the tackling was well below the standards set at Penrith. Coming through and getting the key late try rather than conceding was a major positive, but for a third game the second half was lost.
The competition for places was again demonstrated with Chris Evans, making a lot of ground when he came on.
The next fortnight sees a visit to Wilmslow in eleventh, followed by another home game with the first ever game against Bowdon who are in tenth – but this afternoon showed there are no easy games in this League, which adds to the entertainment - if shortening fingernails.
Your Kendal Man of the Match : Greg Wrathall
Kendal | Broughton Park | |
Chris Park | 15 | Rory Blakeney-Edwards |
Kris Bratton | 14 | Josh Maddock |
Ben Dixon | 13 | Joe Sinclair |
Mark Carruthers | 12 | Tom Hurst |
Dan Shorrock | 11 | Harry Bolland |
Glen Weightman | 10 | Josh Hodkinson |
James Gough | 9 | Matt Hodkinson |
Glenn Chesher | 1 | Tom Dewland |
Robbie Collinson | 2 | Khalid Safi |
Tom Moulton | 3 | Donald George |
Liam Hayton | 4 | James Henderson |
Reece Tomlinson | 5 | Steve Edgar |
Ross McKay | 6 | Aled Davies |
Dane Blenkharn | 7 | Sam Cairms |
Greg Wrathall | (19) 8 | Frank T ufail-Smith |
Dan Lowther | (20) rep | Ian Buckley |
Alistair Thompson | (17) rep | Josh Southworth |
Chris Evans | (16) rep | Tom Booth |
- | Ref | Martin Denvir |
Action | Team | No | Name | Time | Ken | BP | |
Try | Kendal | 13 | Ben Dixon | 4 | 5 | 0 | |
Con | Kendal | 15 | Chris Park | 5 | 7 | 0 | |
Try | Kendal | 9 | James Gough | 18 | 12 | 0 | |
Con | Kendal | 15 | Chris Park | 20 | 14 | 0 | |
Pen | Broughton Park | 15 | Rory Blackney Edwards | 25 | 14 | 3 | |
P/T | Kendal | - | Penalty Try | 33 | 21 | 3 | |
Try | Broughton Park | ? | 34 | 21 | 8 | ||
Con | Broughton Park | 15 | Rory Blackney Edwards | 35 | 21 | 10 | |
= = = | = = = | = = = | HALF TIME | 21 | 10 | ||
sub-on | Kendal | 16 | Chris Evans | 43 | 21 | 10 | |
sub-off | Kendal | 5 | Reece Tomlinson | 43 | 21 | 10 | |
Pen | Kendal | 15 | Chris Park | 52 | 24 | 10 | |
sub-on | Kendal | 17 | Alistair Thompson | 53 | 24 | 10 | |
sub-off | Kendal | 4 | Liam Hayton | 53 | 24 | 10 | |
sub-on | Kendal | 20 | Dan Lowther | 53 | 24 | 10 | |
sub-off | Kendal | 15 | Chris Park | 53 | 24 | 10 | |
Try | Broughton Park | 14 | Josh Maddock | 60 | 24 | 15 | |
Con | Broughton Park | 15 | Rory Blackney Edwards | 61 | 24 | 17 | |
sub-on | Kendal | 4 | Liam Hayton | 62 | 24 | 17 | |
sub-off | Kendal | 6 | Ross McKay | 62 | 24 | 17 | |
Try | Broughton Park | 73 | 24 | 22 | |||
sub-on | Kendal | 15 | Chris Park | 74 | 24 | 22 | |
sub-off | Kendal | 14 | Kris Bratton | 74 | 24 | 22 | |
sub-on | Kendal | 6 | Ross McKay | 74 | 24 | 22 | |
sub-off | Kendal | 3 | Tom Moulton | 74 | 24 | 22 | |
Try | Kendal | 8 | Greg Wrathall | 78 | 29 | 22 | |
Con | Kendal | 15 | Chris Park | 78 | 31 | 22 | |
= = = | = = = | = = = | FULL TIME | 31 | 22 |
OTHER RESULTS
Altrincham Kersal | 13 | 18 | Birkenhead Park | |
Bowden | 24 | 22 | Penrith | |
Carlisle | 21 | 43 | Stockport | |
Firwood Waterloo | 40 | 24 | Wilmslow | |
Glossop | 45 | 24 | Douglas (IoM) | |
Manchester | 47 | 15 | Vale of Lune |
TABLE
# | Team | P | W | TB | LB | Pts |
1 | Stockport | 6 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 29 |
2 | Kendal | 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 25 |
3 | Firwood Waterloo | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 24 |
4 | Glossop | 6 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 21 |
5 | Manchester | 6 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 21 |
6 | Penrith | 6 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 19 |
7 | Birkenhead Park | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
8 | Altrincham Kersal | 6 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 14 |
9 | Vale of Lune | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
10 | Bowdon | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
11 | Wilmslow | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
12 | Carlisle | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
13 | Broughton Park | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
14 | Douglas (I.O.M.) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Stockport continue their unbeaten run, Penrith lost narrowly at Bowden, so Waterloo awarded the points for a game that did not take place against Carlisle last weekend go third.