Battling Performance for Unlikely Victory

Kendal came into the game with maximum points from two good performances, whilst their hosts were towards the other end of the table with a draw with a try scoring bonus point in their opening home match against Glossop, followed by a double bonus point from a narrow high scoring loss at Carlisle.

There was originally just one change from last week’s team, with Mark Carruthers staying in Kendal to play for the seconds, as his wife was soon due to give birth. Jordan Johnson had been named in his place, but he dropped out, so Dan Shorrock came in for a first appearance of the season. Kris Bratton had picked up an injury in mid-week and then aggravated it in the warm up, so had to drop out. Alistair Thompson came off the bench onto the right wing, leaving the team with just Tom Moulton, and Liam Hayton on the bench, as Liam had replaced Ross McKay who unavailable as he was working, as was Nick Carlton.

Kendal made a good start and took an early lead. Altrincham Kersal stole Kendal ball, only for it to be stolen back, then Chris Park was stopped with a high tackle. Glen Weightman took the kick 0v3 after two minutes.

Altrincham Kersal hit straight back and were ahead two minutes later. A James Gough kick was charged down, and whilst it went harmlessly to touch, Kendal lost the resulting lineout, and an Altrincham second row opened up the defence to score, with their scrum half Sam Gallimore adding the conversion 7v3.

Altrincham dominated play with Kendal spending much time in defence, and when the team managed to escape their half, a series of balls being dropped and poor options meant chances which had led to tries in the past two games were missed.

After twenty minutes there was a further injury blow for Kendal with prop Hugh Davies limping off, so Tom Moulton made an earlier than expected entry into the game.

On a rare Kendal attack, Robble Collinson made a long break, breaking a number of tackles. Chris Park had done well to be in support, but Collinson was unable to get a pass away which would have led to a certain try, with the final defence committed to ending Collinson’s run.

Reece Tomlinson was the latest player to pick up an injury, but stayed on after treatment.

With five minutes of the half to go, Dan Shorrock ran back a kick, and whilst tap tackled regained his feet, only for the referee to penalise him for not releasing the ball in the tackle, which seemed harsh. Sam Gallimore put over the resulting penalty to give his team a 10v3 half time lead, which was a poor return for their dominance.

Another blow for Kendal as Matt Houghton was unable to re-start after half time, so Liam Hayton had to come on.

Kendal started the second half well. Their scrum had been under pressure after losing Davies, with others carrying injuries, but the Altrincham scrum was disrupted and the ball turned over. The ball was moved right with Danny Barker making ground, before finding Ben Dixon who got a pass away to Alistair Thompson for Kendal’s opening try. 10v8

Shortly afterwards Reece Tomlinson did come off, and with no one left on the bench, a hobbling Hugh Davies returned.

After twenty minutes Kendal had the lead. Ben Dixon chased a kick through and fed Alistair Thompson who was high tackled. With the referee playing advantage the Altrincham centre was up much too fast to illegally cut off a pass, but this worked in Kendal’s favour, as Steven Nelson saw the gap this had left, and instead went for the line himself for a try that Chris Park converted. 10v15.

Altrincham came back and Kendal had to withstand a lot of pressure in their twenty two, conceding a number of penalties, and finally Altrincham drove over on the far right to tie the scores 15v15.

Tom Moulton had picked up an injury in the build up to the try and was forced off, and a not fully fit Matt Houghton returned.

Kendal quickly re-gained the lead. Greg Wrathall gathered the re-start kick and put Kendal on the attack and when Altrincham were caught offside, rather than look for a kick to touch for a lineout, Chris Park was given a difficult kick at goal and the ball crept over to give Kendal the lead again 15v18.

All the good work was however instantly undone, as Altrincham turned over the restart ball and when the ball was moved wide a player on the right juggled with the ball, but managed to keep it in hand to score in the corner. Whilst it appeared their kicker Sam Gallimore was taking his time with the conversion to run the clock down, he then put over an excellent kick to mean Kendal needed a try for victory, with under ten minutes to play, 22v18

Kendal responded well and when they got a penalty near halfway the decision was taken to bring Reece Tomlinson back, and rather than take either of the other injured players off, it was Dan Greenwood he replaced.

Tomlinson duly gathered the ball and the pack drove Altrincham back from their twenty two, to the try line and when the maul was collapsed on the line, with the Kendal pack seemly in total control, a penalty try looked inevitable, but the referee saw it differently, and awarded Altrincham a scrum for the ball not been got to ground. Someone unwisely spoke out, and this became a penalty against Kendal.

The kick was put to touch, and from the lineout a kick was put downfield and was gathered by Chris Park who set off on a counterattack, only to be stopped by another high tackle. This time one too many for the referee, and the Altrincham player was yellow carded.

Rather than go for touch, some quick thinking from Glen Weightman (which may have been described differently if it had not come off), saw a long kick put to the left wing for Ben Dixon to chase. The ball bounced badly for him, but he still managed to gather it, then found Dan Shorrock in support. He was stopped short, but with the Altrincham defence in disarray, when the ball was moved right Alistair Thompson had a clear run to the line. Chris Park added the conversion off both uprights. 22v25.

At the earlier Altrincham penalty lineout the referee had said there were four minutes to play, so with the action, plus Chris Park this time taking his time with the conversion, it looked like the end of the game, but referee said there was still two minutes to play.

Kendal gathered the kick off, only for Altrincham to offend. The kick was put to touch, but there was still time for more. Altrincham stole the ball, but again illegally and the ball was again put to touch. Again the lineout took place, but Altrincham offended for a third time, probably realising if the Kendal pack was allowed to hold the ball, they would just run the clock down. Steve Nelson hammered the resulting penalty into touch to seal an unlikely victory.

After a below their normal standard first half, after half time despite their injury issues, Kendal took most of their few chances.

Prior to the game, from their previous two results it looked as if Altrincham were good on the attack, but had fragility in defence, and this was how it prove. If the Kendal team had been at the same high standard as the last two week, and taken their first half chances, they may have again been well clear before the injuries problems hit. A losing bonus point was still poor reward for Altrincham’s efforts. In hindsight they may have got the second half tactics wrong, keeping the ball tight rather than moving the ball more to exploit the unfit players in the Kendal pack, who did an amazing job to withstand the pressure.

As well as losing three key forwards during the game, the team starting without three of their first choice wings (Bratton, Carruthers and Carlton), but Alistair Thompson came in and scored two key tries, whilst Dan Shorrock again played well, making some important runs out of defence, and was involved in the build up to the final try.

The concern now is the severity of the injuries, and whether the players will be available for another big game away at Penrith next week.

Definitely three points gained - rather than one dropped.

Your Kendal Man of the Match : Chris Park

PHOTO : Reece returns to rise high and set up the drivert to the line, for the late disallowed try

FOOTNOTE
Anyone (like me) wondering about the odd jersey numbers, with Dan Greenwood starting in an 18 shirt, and switching to a 3 at half time. A new set of jerseys are on order, but have yet to arrive. Not sure if that is due to the shortage of lorry drivers, BREXIT, COVID – or we just did not get around to ordering in time.

OTHER RESULTS

Stockport's good win over Bowden puts them above us, but Birkenhead Park lost heavily to Manchester

Two games were off as a Waterloo player had tested positive for COVID so their game against Carlisle and last week's opponents Glossop's game against Wilmslow were postponed