Rugby - Kendal off to 'home of rugby' on revenge bid (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Rugby - Kendal off to 'home of rugby' on revenge bid

11:01am Saturday 23rd January 2010 in

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REVENGE mission at Rugby Lions awaits Kendal on Saturday if a measure of normality should descend upon National League 2 North after the wintry stranglehold.

Jon Nicholson's Black and Ambers squad set out to Webb Ellis Road knowing that they caved in to a 36-6.

Played out in a squally gale last October, defeat came after Kendal led 6-0 at half timeonly to ship four tries in a debacle of a final quarter.

To be fair, it was early days for the young newcomers to the Mint Bridge outfit and that defeat - one of five in a six-game trough - should be well behind them.

Current form - if that means anything sees Kendal going well with three conseuctive wins over Broadstreet, Waterloo and Huddersfield.

Rugby Lions are the last part of Nicholson’s stated target to see off opposition surrounding them in the league table to establish mid-table security.

Unlike Kendal who have not played since December 12, Rugby have the benefit of a recent outing albeit a 20-5 reversal at Hull, a result that stopped them climbing above Kendal who lie immediately above them in tenth of 16 in the league table.

Rugby have played two games more and lost ten out of 16 compared to Kendal’s six out of 14.

Both sides have men in the top eight leading scorers with full back Mark Irleland (135 points) outscoring Lloyd Warner (115) and that shoudl make for an interesting duel.

Two other National League 2 North matches went ahead last Saturday and Loughborough Students tightened their grip on the leadership with a 23-15 over plucky visitors Harroigate. It extended the Students’ advantage to 12 points over second-placed Macclesfield.

Meanwhile, Kendal will have been more interested to learn that Hull Ionians closed the gap on Boardstreet in the bottom five with a 16-12 win.

Other fixtures tomorrow are: Hull Ionians v Waterloo; Leicester Lions v Bradford & Bingley; Westoe v Hull; Caldy v Loughborough Students; Harrogate v Preston Grasshoppers; Fylde v Huddersfield; Macclesfield v Broadstreet.

In the Northern Division, fourth placed Kirkby losndale are at Keswick (seventh) in North Lancs/Cumbria.

Windermere are off to Bolton in North Lancashire Division One, looking to improve on their record of only two wins in 14 so far.