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Kendal Rugby Club, Cumbria

A depleted Kendal wobble to defeat against Caldy

Written by Frank Jameson
Sunday, 21 December 2008 11:44
Caldy 31 Kendal 20 Sat.20th December, 2008 After the heady delights of the EDF Trophy last week, it was back down to earth for a disjointed Kendal side against top-of-the-table Caldy at a damp, drizzly Paton Field. In a mistake-ridden first half, dominated by penalty kicks at goal, the Black & Ambers maintained a slender lead for over half an hour, with Chris Park slotting over 4 neat penalties against 2 from Caldy’s Gavin Roberts. But the most serious news came after only 11 minutes when Duncan Green injured his shoulder and was forced to leave the field. This restricted Kendal’s supply of clean ball in the line-outs where Duncan’s accurate throwing was missed for the rest of the game. After a long break through a broken ankle to Caldy’s Josiah Dickinson, Caldy gained the lead for the first time when Macpherson raced over from a close in scrum with a neat “show and go.” Roberts converted this and added a penalty to give the Cheshire side a 16-9 lead at half time. In the second half, Caldy increased their lead when their captain, Shaun Woof, made a fine break to put his fellow centre, Gavin Roberts, over the line. Roberts added a penalty soon after. At this moment, Kendal seemed down & out – they had had Ian Ross yellow carded for a technical offence and, with a man down, were really struggling for possession. But then, Ian returned to the fold and Craig Wilson came off the bench, and this sparked a revival. At last, the Kendal forwards started to play like they did against Blackheath, close driving, “pick and go”, and some tremendous forward momentum resulted. The backs had some useful possession in a good attacking position, almost for the first time in the game, and Ian Voortman drew 2 men in classic centre style to put Lewis Boyd clear, and over in the corner, to reduce Caldy’s lead to 24-17. Having played poorly for 6o minutes, Kendal were still in the game! For the next 15 minutes, they hammered on the Caldy line. Chris Park added another penalty to reduce the gap and it was “game on.” For minutes on end, the Kendal pack camped on the Caldy line. The Cheshire lads tackled valiantly, but Craig Wilson dived over. The referee, who was badly positioned, disallowed the try, and suddenly the siege was cleared. With the light starting to fade, Caldy went back to the other end and Macpherson, their fly half, capped a fine game by chipping over the top of a static defence to put Mark Turner over for the decisive try, which Roberts converted. So Kendal were left to wend their weary way home, looking forward to their Christmas break from rugby, and to their turkey and mince pies, and pondering what might have been.Chris Park can be pleased with his goalkicking display, kicking 5 out of 6, but too many players had an off day. The handling was poor, in admittedly wet and greasy conditions, and overall, the forwards did not provide the backs with enough ball to win the game.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 02 August 2009 10:21 )