Bolton 8 - 53 Kendal

FLY-HALF Glen Weightman was in imperious form as Kendal returned from the North One West Christmas break in stunning fashion to easily dispose of Bolton at Mortfield Pavilion.

It was a relatively low-scoring opening 40 minutes as Weightman hit two penalties, a try and a conversion to give the Mint Bridge club a narrow lead at the break.

But the away side turned the screw and showed their dominance in the second-half to romp home to a victory which keeps them within touching distance of top spot.

Kendal started well and when the Bolton defence was caught offside, Weightman, who finished with 23 points to his name, made no mistake in kicking over the penalty.

Both teams were trying to run the ball and it was Bolton who scored the opening try after a quarter of an hour.

A long drop out was gathered in his own half by the Bolton left wing who evaded a number of tackles before finally being stopped by Chris Park. The ball was however quickly recycled and a clever chip through set up the unconverted try for the winger.

Kendal continued to probe the Bolton defence and re-took the lead after twenty minutes. The pack set up a powerful drive to the line and the referee penalised Bolton for stopping the drive illegally. The simple kick at goal was converted by Weightman.

But all of Kendal's good work was quickly undone when Kendal were caught offside in midfield to give the Bolton fullback a simple opportunity to retake the lead for his team.

But Kendal went in front again when, with five minutes of the half to play, good work from the pack took play to the Bolton twenty-two.

When the ball came out, Weightman dummied a pass to centre Bob Mataia, who was closely marshalled by the Bolton defence all afternoon, but instead he went for a gap himself. Having broken the initial defence, he was able to weave through attempted tackles for an excellent try, which he duly converted to give Kendal a 13-8 lead.

Kendal sit in third place in the league and know they must keep in touch with leaders Birkenhead Park and Kirkby Lonsdale if they have any designs on a promotion push.

And they showed the qualities which has seen them pick up 11 wins from their 14 matches in the second half.

They started the second half well with Dini Noyo just being forced into touch after a break from Nathan Woof.

Ben Leacock then took a lineout ball and the forwards had total control of their drive to the line with Garry Holmes crossing before Weightman converted.

Both teams had chances but strong defence from Kendal was leading to an increasing number of handling errors from Bolton, with Kendal players now often first to react to turn defence into attack.

The lead was extended after a quarter of an hour of play when the Kendal pack ran a tap penalty from short range, and Holmes was in position for his second try before Weightman remained cool to extend Kendal's lead to 27-8.

Holmes then added his third try to give Kendal a scoring bonus point before speedy winger Noyo added a fifth try after good work from substitute Dan Greenwood.

Weightman then had his only miss of the afternoon from close to the left hand touchline.

Tom Voke then forced his way over the whitewash for a 46-8 lead before the final try came in added time from Duncan Green.

Kendal

15 Nathan Wooff

14 Chris Park

13 Bob Mataia

12 Mark Carruthers

11 Dini Noyo

10 Glen Weightman

9 James Gough

1 Billy Coxon

2 Garry Holmes

3 Duncan Green

4 Liam Hayton

5 Ben Leacock

6 Matty Houghton

7 Tom Voke

8 James Thompson

sub Richard Harryman

sub Dan Greenwood

sub Alistair Thompson