KENDAL were unable to build on a good start in their Northern Division North One East match against Moortown.

They went down 26-10 in an away fixture which was re-arranged due to an unplayable pitch at Moortown’s Moss Valley ground.

Both teams had to be content with an artificial surface at nearby Yarnbury RUFC, but nothing could be done about a difficult crosswind on a bitterly cold evening.

Despite the deteriorating weather, Kendal made a promising start. From the Moortown kick off, the ball went dead and Kendal had a good period of play in the host’s half before taking the lead after eleven minutes via a try under the posts by Mark Carruthers (pictured right), following a deft sidestep from Glen Weightman who duly converted for 7-0.

This stirred Moortown into some determined running, and their 6ft 3in winger passed to their full back Mark Greenwood. The latter powered over for their first score, but the same player failed to convert.

Home wing forward Xavier Martin made good ground through some poor tackling, going over for their second try, which Greenwood converted.

This spurred the Kendal pack into action and after recycling the ball over a dozen times failed to breech the Moortown defence. After 38 minutes Danny Barker had to leave the field with suspected concussion. He was replaced by Dan Sharrock.

Glen Weightman scored a penalty, reducing the deficit to 12-10, before Kendal’s Ben Dixon had to leave the field with a gash to the forehead.

Kendal seemed to be gaining the upper hand and kept the opposition pinned in their own half, until a long clearance kick was shepherded back from the visitors’ 22 by my man of the match Greg Wrathall (pictured left).

With conditions deteriorating, Kendal’s Weightman attempted a highly improbable drop goal which was charged down and kicked through by Moortown.

The retreating defence were unable to gather the ball which trickled over the try line for the hosts to touch down and convert, taking the score to 19-10.

A disheartened Kendal side went on to concede a further converted try which did not reflect a game from which they had been looking to salvage a bonus point only minutes earlier.

Nevertheless, Kendal performed well overall with some good handling by Chris Park in particular in very difficult conditions. But they will be bitterly disappointed not to have come away with at least a point from a game which they competed in throughout.

Photos: Richard Edmondson