New mission (From The Westmorland Gazette)

New mission

8:58am Friday 8th September 2006

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"THE hired guns have gone back west and it is up to the locals to show the town what they can do," said Kendal Director of Rugby Chris Hayton on the eve of the big kick-off for the team determined to regain National League status at the first attempt, writes Dennis Aris.

Kendal entertain Chester tomorrow (Saturday) in their opening match in North Division One, boosted by a revamp of coaching personnel, a drive to return to solid, basic ruby and well-attended pre-season training.

Relegation from National League Three brought the expected departure of out-of-town players, but Hayton said there was now pride and spirit in a team built of local players around a core overseas imports. "Even our New Zealanders will be living in the town," he said. "The whole team will be meeting people in the street who want to talk to them about how things went at the weekend."

That determination to show they can do well has resulted in pleasingly high numbers at training sessions, he said.

"Many dog-walkers have been surprised to see 30 big sweaty fellows running up Castle Hill," said Chris.

"High numbers have also allowed us to hold fully-opposed training sessions, working out moves against live opposition."

Meanwhile the Kiwi contingent is blending in well with Patrick Tuhakaraina adding extra speed in the centre and Nick McKain proving strong in the back row.

Massey Tuhakaraina, the fly-half who arrived with a knee ligament injury suffered in his last competitive match in his home country, also came through his first full training session this week, said Hayton, and there was an outside chance that he could be a late addition to the squad to face Chester.

Even better news for the club's future is that 10 of last year's all-conquering colts side have stayed in town rather than go away for education or work and Hayton expects many of them to feature prominently in senior rugby.

"Second row Andrew Quarry is on the bench for the Chester match and back row players Stephen Moss and Paddy Wilson are also likely to feature during the season, while Nathan Woolf made his first-team debut last season."

Kick-off at Mint Bridge is at 3pm.

TEAM: Forwards: A. Martindale, D. Green, R. Harryman, R. Quarry, M. Capstick, N. McKain, G. Holmes, A. Hudson. Backs: J. Gough, C. Park, L. Ladell, P. Tuhakaraina, N. Michelini, J. Ladell, S. Mulholland (captain). Bench: A. Quarry, L. Hayton, A. Boardley.

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