9:41am Friday 16th February 2007
By Dennis Aris
DESPITE a spirited second half fightback, injury- hit Kendal's dream of a prestigious Twickenham final were shattered by defeat in the quarter-finals of the EDF Energy Intermediate Cup.
Travelling to South Manchester-based Broughton Park, Kendal were undone by an unfortunate first 10 minutes after which they found themselves trailing 14-0.
Kendal, missing the services of prop Billy Coxon and hooker Duncan Green, then had to contend with injuries to prop Richard Harryman, who gamely battled on throughout the game) and second-row Mike Capstick, who eventually had to leave the field five minutes into the second half.
As a result the pack struggled to contend with the large and powerful Broughton Park front row who dominated the scrum all afternoon.
A scrum in the opening minutes caught the Kendal defence on the back foot and allowed Tom Mapp, the Park stand-off, to make a half-break. He managed to pass out of the tackle to centre Mike Rainey, who broke through the Kendal defence and scored beside the posts.
Rainey was then beneficiary of a fine worked move that saw him score a second try, this time right in the corner. Fullback Ronan O'Brien, who had an excellent game with the boot, made no mistake with both conversions.
Kendal showed commitment to pull themselves back into the game and were unlucky when, midway through the half, scrum-half James Gough took a quick tap penalty to himself but was caught just short of the line.
Then with Kendal briefly in the ascendancy the forwards drove the ball over the tryline only to see it knocked on.
Towards the end of the half fortune favoured Kendal.
Capstick snatched up the ball when Broughton Park lost control of possession and spun it out to right wing John Ladell, who hared off up the pitch to outpace the defence on a 60-metre dash for the tryline. The conversion was missed, but Kendal were back in the game going into the second half at 14-5.
Unfortunately early in the second half the power of the Broughton Park forwards told as they scored a pushover try, No. 8 John Clifford getting the touch down, O'Brien converting.
Almost against the run of play Kendal gained good possession inside the Park 22 and the forwards showed composure to drive their opposite numbers back over their own tryline for prop forward Allen Martindale to scoreand unconverted try.
Unfortunately, O'Brien then kicked a penalty after a Kendal defensive error to restore a 14-point lead for Broughton.
Kendal were not finished and, showing some of the expansive rugby they play so well at Mint Bridge, they scored a third try. Two wonderful passes from the Tuhakaraina twins across the width of the field saw the ball moved to full back Simon Mulholland in a blink of the eye and he had the footwork to beat his man and run in from 40 metres for a try converted by Patrick Tuhakaraina.
At 24-17 Kendal had hope, but they never managed to wrestle control of the game from Broughton Park and it was the home forwards who had the final say in the dying minutes when captain Andy O'Grady scored a converted try from a driving maul to secure their place in the semi-final draw.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/trade_directory/