Kendal battled well against a talented Rossendale side before going down 34-17 at Mint Bridge in Regional 1 North West.
It was a particularly strong performance from Dan Bowman’s men, largely through their defensive work, with Rossendale powerful in many aspects of the game.
The game was played in absolutely miserable conditions but the East Lancashire side adapted better and were ahead inside the first minute.
After Kendal had lost kick-off ball in a turn-over winger Byron McGuigan, chased a clever kick through from Lewis Allen to gather and cross in the corner.
With conditions deteriorating throughout the game Rossendale continued to dominate, but found it difficult to break a superb Kendal defence which threw-up an effective barrier against their lively opponents.
But a second try did come on 15 minutes when a line out on the Kendal ‘22’ was taken on and second row Charlie Murray was driven over close enough to the posts for Allen to convert.
When Kendal did manage to mount some attacks of their own they did cause problems and were able to reduce the arrears on 25 minutes with a penalty from Aaron Stephens.
Five minutes later Rossendale were down to fourteen until half time, when back row man John Tuia was yellow carded for a high tackle.
Trailing 12-3 at the break Kendal went looking for an early score and they got it within five minutes.
From a penalty, the pack drove over from a line-out with Steve Nelson claiming the try which Stephens converted.
Rossendale responded immediately from a tap and go on the Kendal five metre line and Danny Solomona went through almost unchallenged for the try which Allen converted.
Shortly afterwards Rossendale added their bonus point try from Zac Stephens. The full back came into the line to take a pass from McGuigan and complete the scoring. Allen’s conversion made it 26-10.
It was starting to look ominous for Kendal when Rossendale engineered space out wide for Jake Edge-Spedding to go over for their fifth try.
However credit to Kendal as they came back into the game and didn’t concede another try in the final quarter.
They even scored the final try of the game, right at the end when a forward drive from a line-out ended with a touchdown from Dane Blenkharn. Stephens converted.
