KENDAL 12 – PENRITH 7

Kendal faced a resurgent Penrith in the crucial North One derby game at Mint Bridge on Saturday and were pushed all the way to the final whistle, in a typically tight and tense game, by their North Cumbrian rivals.

In a very fractious opening twenty minutes during which Kendal captain Ian Voortman was shown a yellow card and Penrith scrumhalf Ed Swales was sent off for a head butt on James Gough the only scoring opportunity fell to Penrith centre Steve Wood however his penalty attempt was just wide of the right hand upright.

With the pitch starting to cut up and conditions under foot being treacherous due to a down pour before kick-off neither side was able to retain possession for any length of time with turnovers and knock-ons a plenty.

As halftime approached Penrith won another turnover and Paul Newton, now playing at scrumhalf, sped off up field through the Kendal defence to score beside the posts. His try was converted by Steve Wood to give the visitors a 7 nil lead.

Going behind seemed to spur Kendal into action and two minutes later, after Penrith second row Robert Dawson was sin binned for deliberately pulling a driving maul down, they scored from the penalty lineout deep in the Penrith twenty-two. The forwards drove for the line, were held by Penrith but James Gough went on a sniping run down the blind side to score an unconverted try wide out by the touchline.

The second half was little better with neither side able to control the game. Kendal’s first chance of points came in the fifty-fourth minute when they were awarded a penalty just inside the Penrith half, the decision was taken to kick for goal but Hoani Moore’s attempt landed well short of the posts.

Later in the half Kendal had an attacking lineout in the Penrith twenty-two however the driving maul on a rare occasion was disrupted and Penrith were able to clear the danger.

Kendal left it late to keep their unbeaten league record intact, the seventy-fifth minute of the game in fact.
Kendal secured quick turnover ball in midfield for James Gough to set the attack in motion he linked with Moore before Ian Voortman burst through and then passed to John Ladell running a wonderful angle and he gave the final pass to winger Matt Gracie who had a simple run in under the posts. Moore converted for a final score of 12 points to 7. That victory equals Kendal’s run of nineteen league wins during their promotion season of 1999-2000.