THE strength of Kendal’s squad will be tested over the coming weeks following a number of injuries to key personnel during the weekend’s win over neighbours Penrith, admits the club’s director of the rugby, Steve Whitehead.

Influential captain James Gough, Leo Mercer, Bob Mataia and Dini Nayo were all forced off during the 20-13 win – which maintained Kendal’s winning start to the North One West season.

While happy with the victory, Whitehead insists it came at a price but remains confident the quality of the squad will shine through over the next few games.

“It was good to keep up the momentum but it was at a price,” he said. “We picked up a lot of injuries which we need to assess and have a lot of walking wounded at the moment.

“We have done a lot of work with development squad and there are replacements there who will be hungry to prove a point.

“It is a case of balancing experience with youth. We have two home fixtures next which present their own problems in terms of nervousness but I’m pretty confident because it always boils down to the coaches and the lads on the pitch and I know we’ve got a good squad.”

He added: “We have just got to live with it. It’s the same for all sides, maybe not all at the same time but every side loses key personnel at some point during the season.”

The injuries forced Kendal to adopt a different game plan and ultimately won the game through two second-half penalty tries.

“We had to dramatically change the game plan and starve them of the ball,” said Whitehead. “We denied them possession up front. The lads were fortunate we have the ability and personnel to do that. We managed to do it against a good side and away from home so it was a really accomplished performance

“If things do go wrong we are able to take the ascendency up front and deny them of the ball. Our pack dominated them for 50 minutes and the lads that left the back row for the wings did an admirable job.

“The front row has played over 1000 games together and then Garry Holmes has come in and doesn’t lack power himself so they just couldn’t compete in the pack.”

With home games against New Brighton and Wigton on the horizon, Whitehead insists it is far too early to look at the table.

“At this stage it is four very good wins but you just can’t run away with that so early in the season,” he said. “You can’t take that as a benchmark - you just have to take that for what it is which is four wins.

“We’ve now got a lot of injuries so that will take some managing. I am confident with the squad we’ve got we can keep momentum.”