Second Best

Bob Mataia had flown home in mid-week, so Ian Voortman made a first start of the season, with Billy Coxon making a return on the bench.

Kendal made a mixed start. A handling error from the kick-off gave Kirkby an early scrum in the Kendal twenty two, but the Kendal pack disrupted the first scrum, then drove Kirkby off the re-set scrum forcing a penalty. Kirkby offended again from the lineout, giving Kendal a lineout in the Kirkby twenty two, but the ball was turned over.

Play was end to end, with Kirkby happy to use the wind in their favour to kick upfield and wait for Kendal handling errors. This was almost punished when Nathan Wooff made a good break back upfield after gathering a kick, but the Kirkby’s defence re-grouped, and the move came to nothing.

The deadlock was finally broken after a quarter of an hour of play, when Ian Voortman was caught offside in midfield, and the kick was slotted over by Kirkby centre Tom Pickthall. 3v0

Neither team could get a dominant position, partly due to a large number of handling errors. The referee was also often too quick to blow, rather than allow advantage, with a number of Kirkby opportunities to turn defence into attack, lost.

Kirkby doubled their lead after half an hour, after a lineout offence, with a further penalty added. 6v0.

Kirkby were however soon reduced to fourteen men, when hooker Dan Armistead was yellow carded for dangerous play. Kendal could not take advantage of the extra man, but Kirkby were then reduced to thirteen, when centre Harry Pickthall (?) appeared to be harshly yellow carded for a deliberate knock on, to end a Kendal attack.

Kendal finally went for the posts with the resulting penalty, but the kick was caught by the wind and drifted wide.

Despite being two men down, Kirkby continued to attack, and a kick through caused confusion in the Kendal defence. When the ball was finally gathered, there was a wayward pass back, forcing the ball to be grounded for a Kirkby five metre scrum. Ian Voortman was yellow carded for his part in the ensuing melee.

From the scrum, it looked as if Kirkby had extended their lead, when the ball was moved to the right wing, but the referee decided to call play back for a forward pass, to keep Kendal in touch at half time. 6v0

During the interval Billy Coxon replaced James Thompson, with Garry Holmes moving to No.8 and Duncan Green to hooker.

The second half started as the first had, with this time a Kirkby player knocking the kick-off on.

Kendal had the best of the opening play, but could make no ground.

After ten minutes Kendal made a second change, with Chris Downham coming on to replace Dan Greenwood in the back row.

Just when both teams were back to full strength, Kirkby saw a third player sent to the touchlines with a yellow card.

Both teams continued to make handling errors, which slowed the game down. Kendal continued to put pressure on the Kirkby line, but could find no way through, and were often been driven backwards by a frenetic Kirkby defence.

Having weathered the Kendal attacks, Kirkby broke out, and when penalised a Kendal player spoke out, moving the penalty into the twenty two, but still close to the touchline. The kick went nowhere near the posts, but this turned out to be to Kirkby’s advantage. Ian Voortman failed to gather the ball, and when Kirkby re-cycled it, they found space on the left wing for an unconverted try, to set up a crucial two score lead. 11v0

Kendal came straight back, and had one of their best periods of play, taking the ball down the left wing, but the move came to an end when Ian Voortman was penalised by the referee for foul play, and appeared fortunate to receive a long warning lecture, rather than a second yellow card.

Hard as they tried Kendal could not find a way through the Kirkby defence, and at the close Kirkby broke out, and having set up a good position in the Kendal half, Dave Barton, dropped a goal to extend his teams lead five minutes into added time. 14v0.

The referee allowed play to continue, but Kirkby quickly put the ball to touch, to seal very hard earned victory.

Whilst a number of Kendal’s key players were well below their best, this was partly due to the superb defensive display from Kirkby, who had played a large part of the game a man down, without conceding.

Barring some remarkable results in the final two games of the season, this result ends any hopes Kendal had of promotion, but they are still guarantee a third place finish. Kirkby could still grab automatic promotion, if they as expected gain maximum points from their remaining games, whilst Birkenhead Park slip up against Kendal on the final day of the season.

KENDAL MAN OF THE MATCH : Matty Houghton
A four way tie at the top this week with 11 votes spread over 7 players, but as the other three had all previously got MoM this season, Matty got the casting vote

Referee : Brian Mitchelhill