After the excellent start to the season against Stockport, heartened Kendal were very much in the follow up clash at Manchester before losing 38-34.
Manchester had drawn their opening Regional 1 North West game at Anselmians on opening day.
Although Kendal started well they then had a spell of serious defending to do near their own line.
However it was Kendal who scored the opening try after ten minutes after debutant fullback Adrian Karlese made a telling break. He was able to get the ball away to Steven Nelson.
Although Nelson was checked near the Manchester line Dan Shorrock was offering support and he took the pass to score with Aaron Stephens adding the conversion.
Unfortunately Nelson received an injury in the build up to the score and was unable to play any further part in the game.
Although Manchester quickly levelled three minutes later with Ben Lewis scoring and converting a try Kendal regained the advantage on 17 minutes.
Matt Houghton broke from the back row and found Greg Wrathall in support. He drove on and then supplied a perfect pass for Alistair Thompson to steer his way through a gap and touchdown. Stephens converted.
Kendal were able to add to their lead with a Stephens penalty after the lively Karlese, who was to emerge as Kendal’s man of the match, was stopped unfairly.
It got even better for the Cumbrians when a penalty was put to touch and after winning the line-out the ball was chipped over the Manchester defence for Dan Shorrock to chase, collect and score. Stephens converted.
It was a handy 17-point lead but by half-time Manchester had scored two converted tries to pull the deficit back to just three points.
Charlie Greene (31) and Joe Ridgewell (35) went in for the tries which were both converted by Lewis.
Manchester took the lead early in the second half after some sloppy play by Kendal and some persistent recycling by the hosts brought them a try by Josh Chalk converted by Lewis.
On 55 minutes the gap was down to a point when Stephens popped over another penalty but that was from a rare visit to the Manchester half.
Just before the second water break Manchester scored again although Kendal felt Stephens had forced a handling error before the ball was grounded by Chalk for his second try. The referee was well positioned and saw nothing wrong,
A home try from short range by Charlie Greene, with the conversion attempt striking the post, made it 38-27, But Kendal got their losing bonus point.
The admirable Karlese shot down the right wing, following a scrum in midfield to score and Stephens added a tough conversion.
Whilst Manchester dominated the closing stages the Kendal defence remained strong and they deserved a reward for their efforts.
