Gazette Sport
Caldy too strong for Black and Ambers
9:35am Tuesday 21st February 2012
National League 2 North
Caldy 59
Kendal 7
By Mark Hodgkiss
After a three week break due to snow and ice Kendal restarted their league campaign with a trip to sixth place Caldy who had won just two of their seven games since the start of November.
Mark Ireland was back at outside half for the first time since breaking bones in his hand in the game against Harrogate before Christmas, but Chris Park and Simon Davidson were out, leading to another reshuffle at the back as Simon Mulholland came in at fullback and Andrew Boardley at scrum half.
Caldy dominated the early exchanges and took the lead after seven minutes when Gavin Roberts found a gap in the Kendal defence to score and it was 7-0 with the conversion.
Kendal came straight back and wing Kris Bratton was denied when forced into touch and Caldy’s Jack Parker added a second try on 15 minutes as the hosts went 14-0 up.
Caldy were now running the ball from anywhere on the field, and flanker Gareth Bansor looked certain to score when he made a break down the right wing, but lost his footing as he went for the line.
From the subsequent ruck there was role reversal as right wing Ben Eaves scored a typical forwards try from two metres out and Andrew Soutar added the conversion.
Number eight Josiah Dickinson was the next to score after 28 minutes and a Dominic Kohler try made it 33-0 at the break.
Early in the second half, coach Ian Thompson, reshuffled his front row, bringing on Richard Harryman and Duncan Green for Glen Chesher and Matty Houghton.
The new legs could not prevent a Caldy try from the resulting line out with lock Jon Sewell breaking away to score for 40-0 with the conversion.
Fresh legs arrived as Billy Coxon and new recruit Hugh Lockhart replaced Danny Redhead and Joe Ellis in the back row but flanker Adam Aigbokhae extended the hosts lead to 47-0 and Derek Salisbury added another try with 25 minutes to go.
The game went off the boil and Kendal saw more of the ball but with 10 minutes Steffan Thomas replaced the injured Andrew Boardley.
Just when it looked as if Kendal would hold Caldy out, a passing move across field was finished off by Caldy right wing Ben Eaves for his second try and Soutar converted for 59-0.
Kendal were not finished, and a powerful run by Dave Barton brought them into the Caldy 22.
Good support from the forwards earned a penalty and Richard Harryman barged over before Mark Ireland converted for a final score of 59-7.
Despite the score line, this was a much improved committed performance, against a strong running Caldy side.
Kendal Starting XV: Glen Chesher, Matty Houghton, Craig Rumney, Liam Hayton, Reece Tomlinson, Danny Redhead, Gary Holmes, Joe Ellis, Andrew Boardley, Mark Ireland, Kris Bratton, Dave Barton, Leo Mercer, Ian Voortman, Simon Mulholland.