KENDAL RUFC's wait for a first win at their new home ground goes on as they lost 32-15 to Wirral on Saturday.

A slow start to the match left Kendal chasing the game throughout, and although they improved in the second half, the visitors had already pulled too far ahead.

Kendal again conceded an early try, with right wing Mark Williams going over for Wirral after a poor clearance kick had given them a lineout on the left. Fullback Jimmy Annetts put the conversion over from the touchline and this visitors were 7-0 up.

Although Kendal narrowed the gap to four points when Glen Weightman kicked a penalty over, the gap was quickly extended again when Jimmy Annetts put over two penalties for Wirral to make it 13-3.

Wirral were coming up very quickly in defence to cut off Kendal passes. A number of Kendal players were however making good breaks, but too often handling errors saw the ball lost in contact.

Wirral then scored a second try after half an hour. Kendal appeared harshly penalised for a possible high tackle. The kick was put to touch and from the lineout the Wirral forwards battered the Kendal line on the right, but when this failed, the ball was moved to the left for a try in the corner, with Annetts again putting over a difficult conversion to take the score to 20-3.

Two minutes later and they had a third try. A kick was put down the left wing, then the loose ball was hacked through to be touched down.

Kendal started the second half well, but soon conceded a fourth try. They had the ball in midfield, but it was stolen and another good kick down the wing led to a try in the corner, converted by Annetts and Wirral led 32-3.

Kendal continued to improve, but were making little impact on the tight Wirral defence. Despite their large lead, Wirral seemed to be playing for time, with a string of injuries slowing play down.

After ten minutes, the Kendal pack drove forward from a lineout, and when the ball came out to the backs, there was a deliberate knock on to stop the attack. This saw Wirral centre Danny Harvey given a yellow card, but Kendal then lost the resulting lineout and Wirral stepped their play up again until returned to fifteen men.

Kendal finally got over the Wirral line after twenty minutes of the second period. There had been a long period of pressure on the Wirral line. From a scrum, Downham broke and fed Nathan Wooff to score in the right hand corner.

With ten minutes to play, Kendal were reduced to fourteen men when Downham, who had been prominent in the improved second half performance, was yellow carded for a late tackle as Wirral attacked down the left.

In injury time Kendal added a second try. Alistair Thompson who had seen more of the ball after his move to the pack, found a gap in the Wirral defence and powered through for a well taken try, converted by Chris Park to make the final score 32-15.