It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Kendal at the weekend.
Although shipping over 40 points at Macclesfield they did fight back to earn a four-try bonus point.
But the big plus was the second team’s effort in the (quite a mouthful) Baines Plumbing and Heating Ltd North West Intermediate RU Leagues Division One.
Kendal 2nds beat Glossop 2nds 22-19 with a squad which included four of the club’s current senior Colts and six of the senior Colts from last season.
Former Colt Finlay Quarry scored the second try for Kendal while current Colt Patrick Wolstenholme was named man of the match.
Another former Colt, Mckenzie Cousins started for the first team at Macclesfield while a current Colt Aaron Stephens came on as a finisher replacement at Macclesfield.
The trip to Macclesfield was a disaster as the team coach was delayed en route and did not arrive until 2.10pm so the kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes.
A penalty gave the home side a 3-0 lead after just two minutes and then some poor tackling presented them with a converted try.
Another error, this time at a line-out, let Macclesfield in for a second try and it looked grim at 17-0.
When they did get a foothold Kendal were able to reduce the arrears on 20 minutes. Dan Lowther chipped and regathered the ball before adding the conversion.
Macclesfield then needed no help to score their third try as some slick off-loading kept the ball alive before the touchdown and conversion followed.
The Macclesfield pack was on top and when Kendal mishandled a kick through after more home pressure a home player was there to dive on the ball and score an unconverted try.
Worse was to follow right on the break when strong home pressure ended with the hooker going over for a try and a 36-7 half time lead.
Despite wholesale changes by Kendal it didn’t immediately get any better as Macclesfield scored a converted try four minutes into the second half.
They soon followed up with another when Kendal fouled up again at a line-out and at 48-7 anything looked like being the final score.
But Kendal rallied really well and after Macclesfield conceded a string of penalties a Macclesfield prop was yellow carded.
A quickly taken penalty saw Aaron Stephens link with Ignacio Cisint and he broke through to send in Dan Shorrock with Lowther converting.
More good handling from young Stephens, sent Alistair Thompson into a gap and he went on to score, raising the possibility of a try scoring bonus point. Lowther converted.
Another break by Cisint put Kendal back on the front foot and a kick to the corner from Lowther was seized and juggled with by Shorrock before going over for the bonus point scored.
Three tries had come with Macclesfield down to 14 and when they were back to strength they scored the last try of the game for the 53-26 win.
