Tough season for Kirkby

A Kirkby welcome was given to Rossendale who are lying third in the league in this final official game of the season, although a re-arranged game against Wirral is scheduled for next Saturday.

Kirkby kicked off but the ball went straight out to give Rossendale a scrum back on half way. The ball was Rossendale's and onto the attack but the home defence held 10 yards out and won the ball as Rossendale held on in the ruck. Kirkby moved the ball out but knocked on giving the visitors the scrum. Their number 10 broke Kirkby's line and the first try of the game put the visitors in the lead with 5 minutes gone. Converted 0-7.

Bradshaw must have had weetabix for breakfast as his restart kick went out again. The big Rossendale pack won the scrum and passes out to their wing saw the second try two minutes later. Unconverted 0-12. From the restart Kirkby were on the attack and camped on the visitors line but could not quite get the momentum to score and gave away a penalty to relieve the pressure. Away came the visitors from the line-out and the third try in the corner brought the score to 0-17 with 12 minutes on the clock. The visitors came straight back and their bonus point try increased the lead to 0-24. Undeterred, the Kirkby lads attacked and saw Nicholson win the ball in the ruck taking play up to the 22. Rossendale gave away a penalty and Kirkby had a line-out 10 yards out. Ball lost but Burrow intercepted and strolled over as the home supporters cheered their first try. 5-24. Kirkby came back on the attack but loose the ball in the ruck and a break away try was scored to take the score board to 5-31. A series of penalties by Kirkby saw Rossendale move up field and with 5 minutes to half time increased the score to 5-38. In those 5 minutes the Kirkby youngsters looked dejected as Rossendale capitalised with 2 further tries to bring the score at half time to 5-50.

Encouragement by the Kirkby coaches gave some impetus as they started the second half on the attack drawing a line-out on the 10 yard line. Nicholson out to Burrow who went over the line only to be pulled back for an infringement. The visitors cleared their line but Kirkby won the ball back as they defended and headed down field but a knock on gave the ball back to the visitors who broke through tackles to give them their first try of this half. 5-57. Following a further try by the visitors, the game became a little scrappy and niggles lead to Burrow getting a yellow card for back-chat and Rossendale a yellow for foul play. The big Rossendale second row was trying to intimidate the Kirkby lads but they held firm with some solid defending by the forwards. Rossendale on the defence in their own half saw the wing score a breakaway try after 20 minutes to push the score to 5-71 with a further two tries with 10 minutes to full time giving a score line of 5-83. Back came the visitors looking for the 'ton' but the home side held firm and attacked into the Rossendale half when the visitors were awarded a second yellow for a high tackle. Kirkby had a line-out inside their opponents 22 but lost the ball and another try followed by their centre to move the score to 5-90. As the final minute of the half approached a further try for the visitors brought the end result to 5-95, which was 2 points short of their highest ever score.

A tough season for the Kirkby lads who have shown a lot of spirit and determination over the past 7 months as well as pride. We say goodbye to Regional 1 as we will be playing in league 2 next season but will be back in the not too distant future. On a positive note for the lads, you conceded less points in the second half than England did on Saturday!

This is DJH signing off.