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Peter Kremer Trophy
Wharfedale 42 Kendal 6 (Half time 10-6)
Kendal, turning out a mixture of young inexperienced players, and frisky veterans, were eventually overwhelmed by the smooth running and powerful "Green machine" from the National 1st Division.
For fifty minutes the Black & Ambers tackled like fury, against overwhelming possession from the Yorkshire lads, restricting them to one burrowing try from their powerful back row Dan Solomi from five metres, but after seven minutes of the second half, the floodgates opened, allowing Wharfedale to score 4 unanswered tries in fifteen minutes. The game was all over bar the shouting!
Simon Mulholland
Living off scraps, Kendal managed one fine break by Ian Voortman, and another from Will Voke straight from a line out, a neat dummy opening up a gap, but after a few good hits in defence, Dan White was forced to retire with a shoulder injury. Tom Barrett, another ex Sedbergh schoolboy, chipped over a couple of kicks for the Greens, and Mark Ireland opened his account with 2 out of 2 penalty attempts.
In the second half, the Cumbrian defence was pierced when very poor defence allowed Tom Davidson to stroll through in the left hand corner, soon followed by fast hands to the right to get Sam Cottrell another touchdown.
 Joe Robinson, a fine No.8 prospect still at school, made a stirring break down the middle, but unfortunately passed the ball straight to the opposition, a mistake I am sure he will not do again. Kendal by now were fighting a rearguard action, with Ben Craghill, amongst others, putting in a tremendous amount of work in defence.
Richard Brown, a big No.8, crashed through Will Voke's despairing tackle from close range to add another 5 points, then Dan Hart scored the final try in the corner after a good crosskick by Tom Barrett.
Barrett added a neat drop goal to take his tally to 17 points on the day.
In the meantime, Jon Nicholson rotated his bench, to give all the youngsters a taste of life to come against big opposition.
Everyone was impressed by the determined attitude of the many young players in the side, and it was good to see a bigger and stronger Simon Mulholland return to the fold from New Zealand. He may have lost some of his hair, but he has certainly lost none of his pace, and the famous step is still functioning well.
As Bully said afterwards, we are about two weeks behind everyone else, but we will catch up soon, the abilty and determination is there. |
