Story Cumbria Cup By John Walsh

Last updated 11:20, Monday, 07 April 2008

HOLDERS Kendal and Aspatria will contest the 2008 Story Cumbria Cup final on April 26 at Penrith.

Kendal won the all-North One clash at Mint Bridge, beating Penrith 24-0 while Aspatria were 24-5 winners at Kirkby Lonsdale.

In their semi-final Kendal played with a strong wind behind them in the first half and virtually won the game in the first quarter.

The Kendal kick-off was mis-fielded by Penrith to put themselves under unnecessary early pressure.

The home side threw everything at them Penrith were having difficulty clearing the ball into the wind and after five minutes Dan Stephens sliced through to score after Kendal won good second phase ball and he added the conversion.

Kendal scored directly from the kick-off with some excellent link up play and passes out of the tackle for Gary Holmes to score in the corner. Penrith were really under the cosh and Kendal hit them again after 15 minutes when the visitors were penalised at the line-out on their own 22.

They were caught unawares by a quickly taken tap penalty and conceded a third try to Luke Ladell which Stephens converted for a 19-0 lead.

In the league game last month Penrith were more than a match for Kendal in the mud but the North One champions elect are a different proposition in the dry, Their handling was as good in this fixture as it was poor last month Penrith managed to hold out for the remainder of the half and would have the elements after the turn around.

However, just before half time a hail blizzard sent the spectators scurrying for the grandstand but, unfortunately for Penrith, it saw the wind blow itself out and the second half was almost wind free, perhaps played in a gentle breeze.

It would not effect the result but it would make Penrith’s task in the second half much harder.

In fact Penrith struggled to get out of their own half for the first 15 minutes of the second half but did eventually spend some time in the Kendal 22.

They had a line-out five metres out and a scrum but couldn’t quite find the finishing touch in the face of aggressive Kendal defending. They did finally create a scoring position but the final pass went into Kendal hands.

It seemed Penrith players’ minds were elsewhere with two vital league games coming and the management followed suit withdrawing Penrith’s most influential players Gavin Young, Steven Wood, Paul Newton and Mike Raine once the cause was lost Kendal managed a final score in the last play of the game with a fluid move in the backs and the ball spun wide for Ladell to score his second try in the corner to complete a well deserved victory.

Aspatria were pleased to get through at Kirkby Lonsdale, although player coach Mike Scott admitted the side will have to improve dramatically to test Kendal in the final.

“Kirkby Lonsdale gave a spirited performance and we weren’t as fluent as we should have been.

“There were areas I wasn’t happy about, particularly in the breakdown areas, although it did become scrappy in the second-half.

“We have a lot of work to do before the final, particularly in the scrums, because if we play like we did at Kirkby Lonsdale then we won’t test Kendal very much,” said Scott.

Aspatria had the wind behind them in the first period but for the first 20 minutes they were under pressure from a lively opening by the home side.

“We expected them to come at us but we defended really solidly in that spell,” said Scott.

In fact it was Scott who opened the scoring for Aspatria when he took a pass in the home 22, sold a dummy and shot through a gap to score under the posts. He added the conversion himself.

Perhaps Aspatria relaxed after that initial score, because the home side broke through to score an unconverted try and give themselves hope.

But it was Aspatria who responded and when Scott chipped over the top Lee Tinnion burst through top gather on the full and go over for a try which Scott converted again.

Aspatria also had the bonus of a Scott penalty before the break to turn round 17-5 to the good.

Although Aspatria dealt well with Kirkby Lonsdale in the second period, and seemed to play better against the wind, play became rather scrappy.

The only score of the half came when Scott charged down a clearance kick and was able to pick-up and send Stephen Davidson on a 50-metre run to the line. Scott converted.