You may have been confused watching the game as the away side played in Wirral’s normal kit as they had forgotten to bring their own kit, with the home team playing in their second kit of black.

There was a late change to the Wirral side with RYAN STEAD having to pull out due to an injury when undertaking “lion taming duties”, when he had an altercation with his mother’s cat. CHRIS TYSON came off the bench to play in the second row with KEITH MAHON coming onto the bench from the second team for his first game of the season. JOE MURRAY came back at scrum half and RYAN HIGGINSON replaced STEVE PENDERGAST on the bench.

Kendal played with the advantage of the wind in the first half playing towards the clubhouse. From the kick off, Wirral were looking to play their way out of the 20m area but dropped the ball and then gave away a penalty. GLENN WEIGHTMAN converted the penalty from in front of the posts. 0-3 (1min). In the opening minutes, Wirral were dropping too many balls and this was the theme throughout the game.

Wirral settled down and were able to apply pressure on the Kendal line, having many thrusts to get over the whitewash but without success, the nearest chance came when JOE MURRAY just stepped into touch when in the process of scoring. The home team forced Kendal to touch down giving Wirral the 5m scrum advantage but could not capitalise on this. A bout of kicking enabled Kendal to work the ball downfield. On 23 minutes Wirral kicked downfield only for the ball to be collected by Kendal right winger, Dini Noyo who started off at a great pace through the Wirral defence drew a would be tackler before passing and then taking a return pass before touching down under the posts, the try was converted. 0-10. Still Wirral were exerting pressure in the Kendal half and in the 5 minutes before half time, 2 Kendal players were sin binned for separate incidents, the No 8 and the second for a spear tackle (not a red!). In between these cards a kick through by Wirral came to nothing and then on a promising attack play was brought back for crossing. Turning round at 0-10, Wirral must have felt confident that they could overcome this 10 point deficit.

Five minutes into the second half, JOE MURRAY made a break from 25m out only to be hauled down 2m from the posts and from this promising position, Wirral were penalised when in control of the ball. RYAN HIGGINSON came on for CHRIS HUGHES. CHRIS BURROWS charged down a clearance but the bounce did not favour Wirral and Kendal were able to clear. On 50 minutes after applying pressure on the away side line, the ball was quickly spun left and JAMES ANNETTS ran in from 15m to score close to the posts and he converted also. 7-10. JAMES REEVE came on for PAUL LEWIS. A high clearance by Kendal to Wirral’s half way line hit a home player on the shoulder but it ricocheted and was collected by the Kendal left winger who had a run to the line only to be tackled short but Kendal controlling the ball enabled Josh Coyle to cross wide out, the conversion was missed. 7-15 (55 minutes). Four minutes later with Kendal in possession, but being contained by Wirral, the ball was passed to the right and the speedy winger, Dini Noyo with less than a yard to work in went round his man and sped away to score 15m from the line, the conversion was made by Weightman. 7-22. KEITH MAHON came on for TOM PARRY. This score line meant that Wirral would have to score three times to achieve a win which was eminently possible given the territory Wirral were enjoying, but only if possession could be controlled and they did not panic. Wirral in possession 60m out saw JAMES ANNETTS collect and finally was able to make a decisive break and then outpace the defence to score close to the posts and he again converted his own try. 14-22. On 72m CHRIS HUGHES came on for JACK YARKER (cramp). Much as Wirral worked away at breaking down Kendal this was not happening today as balls were dropped/ not going to hand and the Kendal defence held firm.. Despite the breaks in play for injuries, the second half lasted precisely 40 minutes.

Kendal deserved their win in the end for the manner in which they defended and Wirral have to put it down to being one of those days when nothing goes right/in your favour. Next week the first team are away to Billingham, which is our longest away trip and for those who wish to travel to the game,

please check on the notice board for the coach’s time of departure.

Richard McNeil