Convincing Winners after Tough Opening

Kendal started well with backs and forwards combining to probe the Bolton defence, and when it was caught offside, Glen Weightman opened the scoring after four minutes with a penalty. 0v3

Both teams were trying to run the ball, and it was Bolton who scored the opening try after a quarter of an hour. A long drop out was gathered in his own half by the Bolton left wing who evaded a number of weak tackles, before finally being stopped by Chris Park, playing on the Kendal ring wing. The ball was however quickly re-cycled and a clever chip through, set up the unconverted try for the left wing. 5v3.

Kendal continued to probe the Bolton defence and it appeared Liam Hayton, who was prominent in a number of Kendal attacks, had broken through to score, but a moment’s hesitation as he looked for support, allowed the Bolton defence to get back.

Kendal re-took the lead after twenty minutes. The pack set up a powerful drive to the line, and the referee penalised Bolton for stopping the drive illegally. The close nature of the half was demonstrated when, rather than set up another drive to the line, the simple kick at goal was converted by Glen Wightman. 5v6.

All the good work was quickly undone, when Chris Park just failed to gather a Bolton cross field kick, and the ball struck Mark Carruthers in front of him, to give Bolton a penalty. This set up an attacking position, where Kendal were caught offside in midfield, to give the Bolton fullback a simple opportunity to retake the lead for his team. 8v6

With five minutes of the half to play, Kendal retook the lead with their best try of the afternoon. Good work for the Kendal pack took play to the Bolton twenty-two. When the ball came out, Glenn Weightman dummied a pass to Bob Mataia, who was closely marshalled by the Bolton defence all afternoon, but instead Weightman went for a gap himself. Having broken the initial defence, he was able to weave through attempted tackles for an excellent try, which he converted. 8v13.

Kendal started the second half well, with Dini Noyo just being forced into touch, after a break from Nathan Woof. Bolton won their lineout, but pressure on the kicker meant the kick stayed in the twenty two. Ben Leacock took the lineout ball, and the forwards had total control of their drive to the line, with Garry Holmes finishing off with the try, which Glen Weightman converted. 8v20

After ten minutes Kendal replaced James Thompson with Richard Harryman. Both teams had chances, but strong defence from Kendal was leading to an increasing number of handling errors from Bolton, with Kendal players now often first to react to turn defence into attack.

The lead was extended after a quarter of an hour of play. The Kendal pack ran a tap penalty from short range, and Garry Holmes was in position for his second try. Despite a good Bolton chase of the conversion, Glen Weightman remained cool and made no mistake 8v27.

Nathan Woof put Kendal on the attack again with a break out of defence, but his final pass was knocked on close to the line. Having disrupted the Bolton scrum, forcing a knock on, the Kendal pack drove the resulting scrum to the line, for Garry Holmes, now playing at No.8, to break away for his third try, to give Kendal their try scoring bonus point. Glen Weightman converted again. 8v39

Dan Greenwood had come on as a replacement for Matty Houghton, and set up Kendal’s fifth try. Bolton tried to run the ball, but a pass went to ground, and he reacted quickly to gather the ball, and rather than attempt to go himself, gave a basketball pass to Dini Noyo, who sped down the wing to score. Glen Weightman had his only miss of the afternoon from close to the left hand touchline.

The Kendal pack were now in control in the scrums, and when Bolton were awarded a scrum, after Richard Harryman and James Gough had been unable to force their way over, the ball went loose from the retreating scrum, for Tom Voke to pick up and force his way over. 8v46.

James Thompson returned to the field in place of Billy Coxon, whilst Alistair Thompson came on for Mark Carruthers.

The final try came after Kendal had not used an opportunity as Bolton tired. James Gough chose to put a cross field kick to Dini Noyo, rather than use the large overlap outside him, and the ball went into touch. Again the Kendal pack disrupted their opposition, and the forwards took the ball to the line. Garry Holmes was held up on the line, but Duncan Green was on hand to rip the ball from his hands and score himself. 8v53.

Despite already being four minutes into added time the referee played on and Bolton went looking for a consultation try, but this was the final score.

Despite the final score line, Bolton played much better than their lowly league position suggests, but could not live with Kendal in the second half, when they stepped up several gears and kept the ball tighter. This was a good Kendal team performance with a number of players catching the eye.

Next weekend see a much tougher test with Penrith the visitors to Mint Bridge.

KENDAL MAN OF THE MATCH : Glenn Weightman

Sorry - No Bolton team as they do not appear to issue programmes.