Late Pain

Wilmslow produced their best performance of the season so far but still ended up being edged out by a resilient Kendal outfit. It was an enthralling contest between the free flowing Wolves backs and back row forwards against the gritty and powerful Kendal forwards.

With two Cumbrian county props in their ranks and a front row with well over a thousand appearances for Kendal, the visitor’s pack became more and more of a potent force as the game progressed. Some careless play at the start of the second half by Wilmslow backs had allowed the Kendal forwards to set up camp in the Wolves twenty two. Young Robert Taylor, playing on the Wilmslow tight head, stood out like a beacon and was hardly shifted throughout but the pressure on the loose head caused the Wolves all manner of problems and prevented them from clearing their lines. Eventually after over ten minutes of desperate defence, the referee awarded Kendal a penalty try.

The final denouement for the Wolves took place only three minutes from no side. Once again, the Wolves scrum was disrupted, the ball squirted out and the experienced Kendal scrum half James Gough stole it to nip in for the winning score. That they were in that position at all was the result of some harsh refereeing by the otherwise excellent Robert Sheard. The Wolves had stolen a Kendal throw at the lineout and broken out of defence with some powerful running by Mike Black and Alex Taylor, who was then penalised for not releasing in the tackle. Crucially though, he did not seem to be held so he rose to his feet again and gained another ten yards. It was the sort of play, you see regularly go unpenalised but Mr. Sheard saw it differently and the resulting kick had put the Wolves back in deep defence from where Gough eventually got the decisive score. Sometimes, you don’t get ‘the rub of the green’ or ‘the fall of the dice goes against you’ and for the Wolves this was such an occasion.

The first notable incident took place in the first minute of the game when full back Jack Harrison’s clearance was taken by Kendal centre Mark Carruthers and the ball passed to Bob Mataia on the Kendal left wing. It was the first touch of the ball in English rugby for the Auckland born Samoan, just arrived from Brisbane. Sheer strength at pace had a Wilmslow defender, to the gasps of the crowd, knocked back yards and only a desperate lunging tackle from Lawrence James prevented Mataia from getting away. He looked a real threat every time he got the ball and will cause plenty of mayhem in N1W defences this season. No wonder the Kendal official who had tracked him down was pleased with himself afterwards. In the next play, the Wolves were penalised and Kendal full back Chris Park opened the scoring with a straightforward kick at goal.

The Wolves now got themselves into Kendal territory and from a lineout, won by the increasingly prominent Adam Hewitt, the forwards drove and then released hooker Josh Whiteley on the narrow side who darted over. There was some debate over whether Whiteley had a foot in touch or not but the referee decided that he touched down before his leg touched the ground out of play. It was the sort of incident which in the professional game is the subject of the TMO and endless playbacks.

The game now ebbed and flowed from one end to the other, with neither side enjoying any consistent advantage until Max Harvey came in off the Wilmslow left wing and made a mazy run through the heart of the Kendal defence. The ball was recycled, the forwards were held up on the Kendal right and when it was recycled right, Lawrence James had a clear run for the Wolves second try after twenty five minutes, imperiously converted from the touchline by Bob MacCallum.
Harvey nearly had a score of his own after another lineout from a MacCallum penalty to within five yards of the Kendal line and the Wolves tails were up, until Kendal’s Park saw no-one at home and kicked through for a long chase to the Wilmslow line. The Wolves cleared it this time but a break from a midfield scrum on the stroke of half time by Kendal No. 8 James Thompson, carried on by the South African flanker Rhys Studt, let Gough in for the first of his two tries.

After going 12-15 behind to Kendal’s penalty try, the Wolves had fifteen minutes of decent pressure themselves. First Ben Day made a searing break from his twenty two and when he was forced to kick ahead, Mataia was caught in possession as he tried to field the ball on his own line and although Kendal managed to clear their lines this time, they had no answer when the Wolves immediately came again with MacCallum, James, Alex Taylor and finally Mike Black all handling. Another score at this stage would have seen them home but the Kendal pack regrouped and a pair of penalty awards drove the Wolves back for the final few minutes.

Kendal finished third last season and they are set on improving on that this season. They are a tough side to play against, not pretty in any respect but well organised, efficient and they will take some beating this season. The Wolves had stretched them to the limit and on another day may have taken the points. Coach Rick Jones was not at all downhearted at the outcome, recognising that his side had played to its potential. He singled out Max Harvey, Jack Harrison, James Keys and the Taylor brothers for their attitude and play but really he could easily have added many others to this list.