FT: Kendal RUFC 12 Nuneaton 10 (From The Westmorland Gazette)

FT: Kendal RUFC 12 Nuneaton 10

5:21pm Saturday 10th December 2011 in Rugby By Patrick O'Kane, Senior News/Sport Reporter

ANDREW 'Ginner' Boardley kicked Kendal to a 12-10 victory against Nuneaton in crisp conditions at Mint Bridge.

An early morning pitch inspection deemed the match playable and Boardley gave the hosts a 3-0 lead with a penalty kick just six minutes in.

Kendal controlled the early play as wave after wave of attack saw them close on the Nuns' try line but handling errors prevented them taking advantage of their possession.

And with their first move of the match, Nuneaton forged ahead when the ball was played out to winger Dave Devlin-Jones who glanced down the line and beyond Jamie Postlethwaite to score in the corner.

Lee Chapman added the extras to give the visitors a 7-3 lead.

But the Black and Ambers always looked like scoring as they gained ground and when Nuneaton were penalised for coming in from the side, Boardley coolly kicked over to reduce the deficit to a solitary point.

Before the break though the gap stretched to four points when Chapman put the ball between the posts.

Dave Barton replaced Steffan Thomas at half time as he returned after a lengthy lay off with a hamstring injur.

And Kendal's resilience was there for all to see with Mark Bowman leading the charge against Nuns.

Boardley scored with another penalty just four minutes into the second half to get the crowd fired up and a 30m dash downfield by Gareth Gore just minutes later gave the league's bottom side confidence a result would come.

With 48 minutes played though, Kendal were awarded a penalty when a Nuns player was offside, but Boardley's kick dropped wide of the posts.

It was not to prove costly though as an additional penalty 10 minutes later put kendal back in front at 12-10.

While having a weighty pack, Nuneaton didn't create much, but when they did, they looked dangerous but the Kendal backs forced the breakdowns at the scrum and as the visitors went in search of a score late on to overturn the scores, Bowman dragged a winger into touch.

And as the match approached full time, Kendal ran the clock down as they sought a try and camped on the Nuns 5m line, it stopped their hosts inflicting the pressure at the other end.

The 12-10 win could lift Kendal off the bottom of the league, but that all depends how Hull Ionians fared at Huddersfield.