Nightmare Afternoon

The team eventually arrived thirty minutes before the planned kick off time, which was delayed by a further quarter of an hour.

James Thompson and Leo Mercer returned to the side after long spells of injury, whilst Garry Holmes and Richard Harryman returned after missing the previous weekend.

Kendal started well, but a handling error put Warrington on the attack. A misplaced kick through caused confusion in the Kendal defence, and from the resulting lineout the Warrington forwards took the ball and drove over for the try to open the scoring after five minutes of play. 5v0.

Warrington continued to dominate play, whilst Kendal appeared sluggish, often slow to react to Warrington errors, and throwing a number of loose passes, to keep themselves on the back foot.

Kendal had a chance to open their account, when a long kick out of defence, was knocked on by Warrington, who were then penalised at the resulting their scrum, but the kick at goal drifted wide.

Kendal were conceding a number of penalties for failing to release tackled players, and this allowed Warrington the opportunity to extend their lead in the nineteenth and twenty first minutes with penalties from their fullback. 11v0.

Kendal were finally starting to get some possession, but more handling errors meant they struggled to get out of their half.

After half an hour of play Liam Hayton, became the latest player to be adjudged to have offended and after previous team warning, he was issued with a yellow card. The Warrington fullback punished Kendal again with a long range penalty. 14v0.

Despite being a man down, Kendal had their best spell of play as the half drew to a close. Warrington were themselves penalised for failing to release the tackled player, and Glenn Weightman put a long kick into the twenty two. Kendal tried to drive from the lineout, and when Warrington were penalised James Gough ran the penalty quickly, but could not get over. The referee came back to issue a yellow card to a Warrington prop for the original offence. From the resulting scrum, a Warrington player knocked on, when trying to intercept James Thompson’s pass, and the referee drew the half to a close.

Hopes that Kendal could build on their good start were dashed as Warrington came out the stronger and quickly increased their lead with a fourth penalty, after Liam Hayton was penalised shortly after returning to the pitch. 17v0

Warrington quickly extended their lead with their second try, after a Kendal kick out of defence was run back down the right wing. 24v0.

Kendal brought on Mark Carruthers for Nathan Wooff, with Leo Mercer moving to fullback.

It was now almost one way traffic, with Kendal penned deep in their own half, having to desperately defend against waves of Warrington attacks. The third Warrington try finally came after a quarter on an hour, with their right wing scoring in the left corner, after the ball had been moved across the field, to expose gaps in the Kendal defence. 29v0.

Kendal made further changes with Rob Wightman and Robbie Collinson, coming on for Liam Hayton and Garry Holmes.

Kendal were being forced to try to run the ball from deep in their own half, with James Gough and Dini Noyo being prominent in attempts to get their team into the game, but Warrington’s defence was proving as strong as their attacking play. When the ball was turned over, Warrington were playing a simple kicking game, to keep Kendal on defence.

Warrington’s final score came with ten minutes to play. They had a scrum on the right and the ball was moved to the left where their powerfully built right wing added another try, to give his team their bonus point, the conversion came back off the post. 34v0.

Kendal continued to play, and a Warrington centre became his team’s second player issued with a yellow card. For Kendal, Nathan Woof returned for Dini Noyo.

Just as it looked as if Kendal would go through the game scoreless, from his own half, Matty Houghton found space in the centre, and when he was caught, delivered a pass to Tom Voke, who was in support. He juggled the ball, but kept it under control to storm over for the try. Glen Weightman quickly added the conversion with a drop kick. 34v5.

Whilst the game restarted, this was to be the last real action, as the referee ended the game two minutes later, as the light faded after the late kick off.

A bad day at the office for Kendal, who never got started against a Warrington, team who got ample revenge for Kendal taking their long unbeaten home record, at the start of the rear.

It is difficult to know what went wrong, with so many players having game well below their normal standards, but a return to form will be essential, when Kirkby Lonsdale visit Mint Bridge next weekend.

KENDAL MAN OF THE MATCH : James Gough

Referee : Mathew Riley (Manchester Society)