Rugby - Vital score eludes Kendal in pulsating finish (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Rugby - Vital score eludes Kendal in pulsating finish

6:05pm Saturday 19th March 2011 in Sport

A LAST-GASP try to snatch victory just eluded Kendal as they lost 25-21, but the relief on fifth-placed Caldy faces at the final whistle showed they had been in a battle royal.

Caldy got on the scoresheet after about eight minutes when lock Manley burst through a gaping hole in the home defence and Vasey converted.

It was a rare punishment as Kendal had their work cut out to match the mobile, well-marshalled Cheshire vistors, but held firm when it counted.

Kendal replied with a gigantic Mark Ireland penalty from inside his own half after 19 minutes, but Caldy retained the ball well and replied three minutes with a second try, this time by Aikbokia who finished off a quicksilver run in the centre.

Kendal had to replace flanker Garry Holmes, who had taken a knock to the head, with Matt Houghton.

But Ireland raised Kendal hopes with another penalty which cut the gap to 12-6 and they began to probe out wide.

On the stroke of half time, Simon Mulholland's cut-back run set up a strong drive by his forwards towards the Caldy line only for a turnover as the ball popped out off the maul.

However, Caldy's ill-advised attempt to kick clear was charged down by Houghton and the the ball richocheted into Kendal hands and Dan White had a stroll-in try.

Ireland's conversion edged Kendal into a 13-12 half-time lead.

It remained nip-and-tuck, Ireland extended the lead with another penalty after 48 minutes, but Caldy replied in kind soon afterwards to cut the hosts' lead to a single point again.

A yellow card to one of the Caldy props left them with 14 men and Kendal took advantage, working a try for skipper Gareth Gore after a superb catch-and-drive set up by Joe Robinson's catch from the penalty lineout.

Ireland's conversion attempt narrowly missed and Caldy clawed three points back with a Vasey penalty in front of the posts in the 61st minute.

But the match swung to Caldy when Kendal failed to find touch with a kick out of defence and scrum-half Alex Smith took a neat pass from his centre to score.

That left Kendal trailing 25-21 with 11 minutes to go, and they simply could not find a precision pass to finish off some promising moves.

Kendal wheeled a scrum to get the ball back and No. 8 Mark Bowman almost squeezed over with a blindside run to the corner flag, but he was tackled right on the line and the ball went forward.

So the win remained agonisingly just out of reach, but Kendal gained a bonus-point as their bid to avoid relegation continues to produce some entertaining rugby for the supporters.

Next week it's a must-win with a trip to third-from-bottom Morley and there are supporters' seats available on the club coach.