The battered Development Squad fight to the end

Workington 1st 29 Kendal Deevelopment XV 20

A slightly patched up Kendal outfit took the bus up to title chasing Workington on Saturday, to play an outfit looking for the league title. Another spring - like day met them, perfect for their running rugby.
The first 20 minutes saw a real stalemate, with the strong running mid - field of the home team, being repelled at all costs by the determined young Kendal team, and the Black & Amber line out driving game causing problems of its own.
A double injury blow, saw both Jack Lashley, and Alex Wilson limp from the pitch, and thus a gigantic reshuffle, leading to the ever -handy utility man Danny Blenkharn go to centre, and Jake Broomhead move to the back row to accommodate both front row reserves.

The home team always looked dangerous playing some nice patterns, and scored in the corner, after some good skills saw the quick and dangerous full back release the speedy wing man to score. 5 - 0 to the home side.

As in recent weeks, the Kendal team came back into play, and a transgression at ruck time, saw Johnno Johnson take the points on off the post to make it 5-3 going into half time, in a very even first half of play.

The second half kicked off with Kendal determined to start playing a patterned game, and a great insurgent run from make - shift No.12 Atkinson, created quick ball for the backline to use. After some great skills, the ball was shipped to Anthony Gage to score in the corner. 5 - 8.

Again the second half was turning in to a bit of an arm wrestle, but injuries were taking their toll, with several players having to be strapped and restrapped to continue playing. Even Jack Lashley ,with his injury, had to come back on to join the fray!

With a good percentage of the Kendal outfit now either out of position, or hobbling onward, the home side took full advantage with another good try coming from several driven phases, to just out wit the Kendal defence.

Being 12 - 8 down, there was a massive turning point when Kendal launched an attack through Chaplow, and quick - recycled ball looked like it had stretched the home defence, but a slowing of the ball thwarted the visiting players, and with no whistle coming, the ball was hacked forward.After winning a 70 metre foot race, Gage did extraordinarily well to reclaim the ball on the 5 metre line and his colleagues got back to help him.
With loads of pressure on, the resulting clearance kick was partly charged down, and instead of going out of play, went at right angles 30 yards to a Workington player having a breather.From a Kendal perspective it was bad luck that he had acres to trot into for a converted try.

It would have been easy to throw in the towel for the visitors, but again they came back, and an excellent kick from Sean Garnett saw Kendal have a line out in the opposition 22. The driven maul had worked well all day, so off it rumbled again towards the home line. After it had been brought down, a powerful surge from Dane Blenkhorn,now back in the forwards, saw him rewarded with the try.

The Kendal side were now being stuck together with more tape than 3m's, and yet players like Nicholson refused to leave the feild, and they still squared up for more action. With Gage now off the pitch with a facial injury, Workington moved the ball from flank to flank, knowing that the Kendal outfit were stretched, and this cleaver play resulted in another couple of tries for them, which were well taken.

With 10 minutes to go, a kick to the corner saw Kendal have the line out again in the visitors 22. The home team read the scenario well, ie a driven maul, but they weren't quite expecting that the whole Kendal team would be looking at a 13 man version, and the splinter pod shoved Jack Lashley over the line from the set call!!

The final minutes of the physical game, being played in the correct spirit by and large. They were played again in arm wrestling mode, where neither team could quite break the other down, resulting in a brave 29 - 20 loss for the development team.

Thanks have to be given to all the players, most of whom ended up playing out of position due to so many injuries, and indeed the lads who just refused to give up, or go off. This left them as a positive performance in their gradual development as a fine team.
Thanks also to the great travelling support, and the youngest set of alikadoo's in the business, led by Toby Knowles, and new team mate Steve Throw.
Also special thanks to Workington for their great hospitality, and especially to their physio, who selflessly spent the afternoon sticking the opposition back together again. Finally a big thank you to Ash, the bus driver, for getting us all home safe, after the day's exhaustion led to most of the players having a very hazy memory of events!

A Pirie, Billy's Weekly Liar.