FOLLOWING a successful start to the season at Carlisle, Kendal Rugby returned for their first league game at Mint Bridge.

Facing off against Vale of Lune, who were also one of five teams who started the season with a bonus point win, Kendal put on a hard-fought match.

The game kicked off at 3pm and resulted in a 50-20 victory for Kendal.

Chris Park had been forced to drop out in the original selection for that game, but eventually came in for Jordan Johnson, with Kris Bratton returning to the wing.

Ross McKay was unavailable for the game.

Greg Wrathall took position in the second row, with Dan Greenwood, who had played as a replacement at Carlisle, coming in at Number 8.

Liam Hayton and Nick Carlton came onto the bench.

Kendal began the game well and scored early.

After the early stages, Vale were penalised for a deliberate knock on.

Glen Weightman put the ball to touch and the lineout throw was taken.

After pushing through the line Chris Park took the conversion and added the extra points 7v0 after four minutes.

After another poor kick from Vale, Carruthers made ground with Dixon as backup.

After another try, Park added the conversion 14v0 after seven minutes.

Vale answered back with a try of their own, however were unable to get the conversation, leaving the scores at 19v5.

Vale came back hard, and twice seemed to have opened up the Kendal defence, but both time crunching tackles from Kris Bratton.

After twenty-five minutes Vale added a penalty from mid-field close to halfway, using the wind in their favour.

The score was 19v8.

The second half went well for Kendal as they extended their lead in ten minutes.

After another kick from Park their lead grew to 38v15.

Following more pressure from Kendal, Vale were pushed to the edge and only managed to claim 5 more points for the remainder of the second half.

Steven Nelson got a third try to reach Kendal's final score of 50, and Vale ended strongly after claiming one last try and almost reaching another. The end score was 50-20 for Kendal.