Kendal got their season up and running with a clear-cut 69-10 home win against Burnage – after making a flying start.
Prop Joe Anderson produced a fine burst of speed from outside the Burnage 22 and made the line in determined fashion, going over under the posts for Mark Carruthers to convert.
Burnage were under strong pressure and unsurprisingly cracked five minutes later when the forwards hammered away until Jos Lashley was able to crash over under a pile of bodies,
After 20 minutes Kendal rounded-off a successful first quarter with the third try, A line-out throw was gathered by Alistair Thompson and he linked with replacement Jack Blocksidge before Nelson took over and charged in to touchdown. Carruthers converted.
The second quarter opened well for Burnage as they took advantage of some poor Kendal tackling to score a converted try.
But Kendal responded well and by half-time had stretched their lead to 40-7 with the maximum points outcome assured.
All the other 21 points came in the five minutes before half-time, with a little bit of injury time thrown in as well. All three tries were converted by Carruthers.
The first try in this frantic spell came from a Danny Barker interception; then Lewis Kincart set-up Nelson with a clever, disguised pass and after Burnage had a player red-carded Blocksidge celebrated his debut with a try created by Dan Shorrock and Glenn Chesher.
Three minutes into the second half Burnage slipped up badly, losing the ball near halfway for Dini Noyo to snap-up and race clear for the try, converted by Carruthers.
It took a further 20 minutes for the scoreboard to click over again and when it did it was to record a second converted Burnage try.
Kendal got going again when Ignacio Cisint intercepted a pass near halfway and gave the ball to Chesher. He hadn’t the pace to go all the way but did enough before allowing, Noyo to complete the job.
Cisint scored a well-deserved try which had to be well-taken and brave in transit as the full-back evaded a series of high tacklers on the way to the line.
Nelson was on a charge to complete his hat-trick when he was tackled near the line, but managed to get a pass away to Dan Greenwood ito score an unconverted try.
The final score in injury time came from a Shorrock break, carried on by Cisint and finally turned into a try by Nick Carlton. Carruthers converted.
