Amazing Fight Back for Victory

After the disappointing performance at Anselmians last week, Kendal were back at Mint Bridge, and after Rossendale and Blackburn in the last two home games this one looked a little less tricky – but only “a little”, as after only taking try scoring bonus points in their high scoring opening games against Rossendale and Macclesfield, visitors Wirral had only lost once, and that was to top of the table Blackburn, so definitely an in form team.

The only change to the Kendal squad from last weekend was Dini Noyo coming in for Adrian Karelse, but Alex Nelson and Olly Bibby started from the bench, with Luke Atkinson and last weekend’s MoM Ben Leacock starting. Leo Mercer moved to fullback.

On a sunny Armistice Day, the game was preceded with a two minute silence and the “Last Post” played on a bugle.

The game was refereed by Ricky Handa, who based on previous games with him in change, takes no nonsense, and is probably the best of the referees at this level.

For a third home game in a row, Kendal made a number of early errors to put themselves under pressure, with fumbled passes and a charged down kick, and there was possibly some relief to hold out to only an early penalty from Wirral’s excellent kicker centre Ben Brooks, after five minutes. 0v3

Kendal had a rare chance when a ball was turned over and moved to the left wing, but with a two man overlap, a pass was again fumbled.

Instead it was Wirral who extended their lead, with Ben Brooks putting over a penalty from near the left touchline after twelve minutes. 0v6.

The first try came after twenty minutes and went to the visitors. The ball was moved right, but then switched back to the left, where some missed tackles resulted in a try. 0v13 with the conversion from Brooks. There was a high tackle in the build up, but no further action was taken.

Kendal had hardly left their half, with Wirral playing a clever kicking game, putting the ball long, stopping Kendal breakouts, and looking for errors.

However on possibly their first visit to the Wirral twenty-two, Kendal pulled back seven points. A good run by Dini Noyo from close to halfway, was stopped on the line, but Steven Nelson was on hand to score, with Aaron Stephens adding the conversion 7v13.

Kendal made a change with Alex Ryder replacing Joe Anderson.

As the half came to the end, Kendal against the earlier run of play took the lead. There was a powerful run by Matt Houghton to the line, he appeared to lose the ball forward. The ball went loose behind the line and several Wirral failed to deal it, for Alex Ryder apparently just played the whistle to touchdown, but rather than come back for a scrum, the try was awarded. The referee clearly feeling the ball had been stripped from Houghton’s grasp by a Wirral hand, and there seemed to be no protest from Wirral players. Aaron Stephens added the conversion 14v13.

Matt Houghton had picked up an injury in setting up the try, which saw him leave the field and Dane Blenkharn replace him.

There was still time before the half time whistle for another twist. Wirral were awarded a penalty which was put to touch, and a try was added from the resulting lineout, but for the first time the kick failed. 14v18 at half time.

Wirral stayed out and Kendal went in, and there was some debate of the benefits of either tactic, but it seemed to work better for Wirral.

In less than three minutes of play Wirral had extended their lead with a try from a break down the left, 14v23

Wirral seemed to be in for another try from the kick off, but somehow the Kendal defence got back and eventually forced a knock-on.

Kendal had a chance to narrow the gap following a good run from defence by Leo Mercer, who after having a difficult first half in the unaccustomed role of fullback, was looking more comfortable there. Wirral players did well to get in positions to cut off a pass, and finally he was stopped on the twenty two.

The next score just after a quarter of an hour came from a Kendal attempted counter attack, but the ball was turned over, and eventually a fourth Wirral try came, from short range. 14v30.

Sixteen points down, and with the visitors well on top with twenty minutes to play, at this point the best Kendal could hope for was to keep the score down, and look for two tries for a bonus point, and even that looked a distant possibility - but the team had other ideas !

There were three changes in short succession. Olly Bibby came on for Naki Sumaki, Matt Houghton returning and went hooker in place of Seth Haddad, whilst Joe Anderson returned in place of Reese Thomlinson, with Alex Ryder moving back to his more accustomed second row spot,

There were rays of hope for Kendal with fifteen minutes to play, when a ball was moved wide to Dan Shorrock on the right wing. With a number of Wirral players covering him, nothing appeared on, but he broke out of several tackles to score, and suddenly both bonus points looked a better prospect. 19v30

The fourth try came seven minute later. Aaron Stephens put a penalty to touch and the pack drove from the lineout on the left and it appeared to be Dane Blenkharn who emerged with the ball and the congratulations. 24v30.

The Wirral defence was beginning to tire, and Dan Shorrock had another chance down the right wing making a lot of ground, and when he was stopped the referee called a high tackle, and having recently warned Wirral, the player was yellow carded.

The kick was put to touch, but it appeared Aaron Stephens had put too much distance on it and it had gone dead (the Wirral touch judge clearly hoped so), but Mr Handa was in no doubt, and immediately awarded the lineout.

The ball was won and the pack drove to the line. Scrum half Devin Coyle was signally for help from the backline, but they were all waiting for a scoring pass (no chance !). So instead he added his own weight to the drive, but this time it was Stephen Nelson who was controlling things, and went over for the try. 29v30

Leaving Aaron Stephens with a difficult kick, but as so many Kendal kickers have done over the years, when given a difficult late kick to win a game, he made no mistake. 31v30

There was still time to play, but when Wirral’s kick off went to Dan Shorrock, it looked as if he could end the game with another try, as he set off down the right wing, only to lose the ball in the tackle.

From the resulting scrum the ball was moved left and Kendal offended, then disputed the decision and the no nonsense Mr Handa had no hesitation in matching them back a further ten metres.

The kick was put to touch, and whilst Wirral were still a long way from the line, they had shown they could score. It had earlier appeared that Wirral had lost their hooker, and had a prop throwing in. Whether due to that, or Kendal anticipating the throw, a Kendal hand got to the ball first. Matt Houghton swept the ball up, and just ran in to touch, to end the game and start the celebrations of what twenty minutes earlier had looked like a fifth game in a row without a win, after the promising start to the season.

When the touchline was infuriated midway through the first half with the slow pace of the pack getting to breakdowns, I had joked they were pacing themselves for later. Whether they were or not, they certainly finished the stronger. When everything had seem lost, behind the pack Aaron Stephens seemed to take control, whilst Leo Mercer and Dan Shorrock were finding gaps in the defence which had not been there earlier, but in the end it was the pack that won it, plus the lack of nerves from our young kicker.

At the end some Wirral supporters suggested this was probably their worst performance of the season, but they look pretty good to me. Despite at times our team being well off their best, they left the best to last, for an important win against what certainly appeared one of the League’s stronger teams.

Back at Mint Bridge next weekend, with Penrith the visitors. This was always going to be a tough local Derby, but their good win this weekend, lifts them off the foot of the table, and closer to safety. So next week, the team will need to play from the first whistle as they did at the last – but for the moment they can revel in not giving up, and setting up a most remarkable comeback victory.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Steven Nelson

TEAMS

ACTION

OTHER RESULTS

Several unexpected results

Biggest has to be Macclesfield taking Blackburn's unbeaten record, and not even a losing bonus point for Blackburn (they did retain their 100% Try Scoring Bonus point record)

Sandbach's mini revival ended with a big loss at Northwich, whilst next weekend's visitors Penrith did what we could not and won well against Anselmians

TABLE

So Rossendale go top on points difference, with the top three now tied on 8 wins and 9 bonus points

Penrith's win takes them off the foot of the table after Sandbach's loss, and just two points behind Anselmians, with Northwich needing their win against Sandbach to keep them above the chasing pack

The double bonus point keeps Wirral ahead of us, but it could have been a much bigger gap. We both play Penrith before the halfway mark in the season, but our visit to Macclesfield looks a little more tricky than their game against Sandbach - but after today who knows !