Nightmare Start Ends in Excellent Victory

New recruit from Carlisle, outside half Glenn Wightman, was still not available due to injury, so Nathan Wooff continued at outside half.

Kendal got off to a nightmare start. They failed to gather the Birkenhead Park kick off, and whilst the initial threat passed, within two minutes Park had the lead. A player broke away from a lineout drive for an easy run to the line for a converted try 0v7. Worse was to follow as Matty Houghton was injured in build up, and forced off. Kendal were fortunate to have new recruit from Furness, Rhys Studt, as his replacement, who had stood out in the pre-season games, and had probably been unlucky to miss out on initial selection.

Kendal were soon back in the game, with the forwards setting up an powerful rolling maul, forcing Park to concede a number of penalties. When the move broke down the final penalty was put to touch, but Park stole the ball at the line out.

With less than first ten minutes played, Kendal lost a second player to injury, with influential centre Dan Lowther, forced off with an ankle injury, to be replaced by Jordan Johnson, who went onto the left wing, with Leo Mercer moving to centre.

Kendal had to withstand long periods of pressure over the opening twenty minutes, as Park kept the ball alive, with slick handing between backs and forwards. Kendal had a let off, when a Park player chose to ignore a two man overlap, and went for the line himself, only for his forced pass to be fumbled, when he was stopped.

Park were made to pay for this mistake, as from the resulting scrum, James Gough made an excellent break, linking with Jordan Johnson, who went down the right wing, before finding Gough with a return pass, but desperate Park defence managed to stop his further progress. When re-cycled a kick through was put to touch by Park on the left. From the resulting lineout the Kendal pack set up a powerful drive to the line, for Garry Holmes, playing at hooker, to break away for the try. Chris Park put over an excellent conversion from close to the touchline, to tie the scores 7v7.

Better was to follow five minutes later, following a slightly controversial incident. A long Kendal kick through rolled into the Park dead ball area, and a Park player deliberately picked it up from outside the field of play, to force play back to where the kick had been taken, but it appeared the ball had already touched him, before it went dead.

This was soon forgotten however, as James Gough stole the ball from the resulting scrum. He fed Liam Hayton who made a break, before passing to Jordan Johnson, who looked to be heading for the line, but with the Park defence closing in, he passed to outside half Nathan Wooff, in support for an excellent try, to give Kendal a 12v7 lead, probably slightly against the run of play.

Whilst three minutes later Park pulled three points back with a long range penalty, the pressure from the Kendal defence, was forcing them into frequent handing errors, disrupting their previous fluent play.

At the end of the half, after more excellent handing, Kendal had the opportunity to re-establish their lead, but Chris Park was unable to convert the penalty. The team should however have been pleased turning with a slender lead at half time, having spent long periods defending.

Kendal started the second half the stronger, but it was Park who scored first to re-take the lead with a penalty after five minutes 12v13.

The lead was retaken five minutes later. After withstanding Kendal pressure, Park had the put in to a scrum on their own line, but the Kendal pack disrupted the scrum, and James Gough reacted quickly to gather the loose ball for an unconverted try. 17v13.

Kendal were now starting to get on top, putting their Park under constant pressure, but their defence held out, and when a Nathan Wooff’s cross field kick to the corner bounced kindly for Park, a dangerous counter attack looked possible, but was snuffed out by a crunching tackle from James Gough, which caused the Park player to spill the ball.

With fifteen minutes to play, Kendal brought on their remaining substitute, with Billy Coxon replacing Duncan Green, who had played well at prop.

The forwards marked Coxon’s arrival, with another excellent drive to the line, with James Thompson being credited with the try 22v13.

After Park had dominated much of the first half, Kendal were taking control of the second, and continued on the attack, with breaks from Tom Voke, and Leo Mercer, whose powerful running was causing problems for the Park defence, whenever they gave him any space.

With fifteen minute to play, Park came back into the game with a try. Kendal first conceded a scrum at their own lineout, then gave away a penalty for breaking from the resulting scrum too early, which allowed Park to set up position for the try. 22v18.

James Thompson became the third Kendal player forced off with an injury, with Duncan Green returning to the field, for the final five minutes.

Kendal looked to have sealed victory on the stroke of full time, when Liam Hayton, finished off more good work by the forwards, for the team’s fifth try to open up a two score led 27v18.

Park came back and looked to have settled for a losing bonus point, with a penalty three minutes into injury time, but the referee decided to play on. Park put the Kendal defence under pressure, although kept a long way from the try line. When the pack managed to steal Park ball, Leo Mercer was on hand to hammer the ball into touch to seal an excellent victory.

With the poor start and the early injuries, this was an impressive opening to the season, against very strong opposition, with the whole team playing well in attack and defence. The back division looked much sharper than last year, despite losing one of its key players so early in the game. Leo Mercer added an extra weapon to make space for those around him, whilst up front Rob Wightman, Rhys Studt and Tom Voke, seemed to fit seamlessly into the powerful unit from last year.

There will still be plenty for the coaches to work on, especially opportunities which were missed when the ball was not moved more quickly, but this was a very promising start. It will be vital that the standard is maintained, with similar a performance away at Wilmslow next weekend

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