Rugby - Ireland's stoppage-time penalty squashes Hoppers (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Rugby - Ireland's stoppage-time penalty squashes Hoppers

5:40pm Saturday 12th March 2011 in Sport

A SUCCESSFUL stoppage time penalty from fly-half Mark Ireland snatched an 11-10 victory for Kendal over old adversaries Preston Grasshoppers at Mint Bridge on Saturday.

Kendal had made a forceful start, with their forwards doing keen work at the breakdown and retaining the ball well.

The good start brought a penalty kick to the corner, and they mauled the ball close in for prop Richard Harryman to force his way over for a sixth-minute try and a 5-0 lead.

Preston did not step foot in the home 22 in the first quarter, but their first venture there after 23 minutes yielded a converted try, albeit aided by three missed tackles.

Both sides lost a man to the sinbin in the last 10 minutes of the first half, with Harryman show the yellow card for Kendal, and Preston still had their noses in front at 7-5 at half time.

The second half became an attritional battle on the slutchy surface and Preston added a 62nd-minute penalty to stretch their lead to 10-5.

But it was Kendal who found extra reserves in the closing stages.

After man of the match No8 Mark Bowman rallied the troops with a surging break down the middle, Kendal threatened again when flanker Joe Mallinson charged down a clearance kick, and although the visitors' scrambled defence held firm, they remained under the cosh.

The constant pressure forced a penalty straight in front of the posts from 10 metres out that Ireland duly slotted over to cut the gap to two points with seven minutes left.

Four minutes into stoppage time, Kendal were awarded a long-range penalty for a hand in the ruck and Ireland showed coolness to thump over a perfect low-trajectory kick from 38 metres out.

Kendal then held on for another three minutes to clinch the one-point win in another breathless finish at Mint Bridge following their hard-fought triumph against Leicester Lions a fortnight ago.