Renewal of old rivals . . .

An eagerly awaited near local derby between two old friendly Rugby Clubs certainly did not disappoint a large crowd who gathered at Kirkby Lonsdale's Underley Park on Saturday.

Windermere Rugby Club supporters were amongst over 100 Diners who enjoyed Kirkby's legendary hospitality in the comfortable clubhouse before the teams kicked off in front of a large crowd at 2.15pm.

Although the relative league positions indicated a probable win for Kirkby it was obvious from kick off that Windermere had different ideas by running hard and straight pushing Kirkby back into their own half demanding the full attention of Kirkby's well drilled defence. A full 15 minute spell of possession putting Kirkby under severe pressure actually came to nothing for Windermere except that a single lapse showed why the home side are so dangerous on the break giving the elusive Ben Lawson the chance to show his his natural power and pace to open the scoring for Kirkby to the obvious relief of the home crowd. Windermere's ambition and enterprise never flagged still earning plenty of possession some gifted by Kirkby’s over committed penalty count, moving the ball slickly along the line then running hard directly into a super solid defensive wall and as the half wore on Kirkby hungrily enjoyed the rare mistakes and ran in five more tries before half time one from the bustling powerhouse Alex Rodger’s, who galloped in from his own half, another couple from the ever improving athletes Ollie Higgs and Jack Charlesworth then the rangy powerful presence of Will Brown cruising over the line, and Sam Gorst to put some early icing on the Kirkby half time cake.
The usually reliable Jake Stewart’s conversion rate was low due to the wide out tries and a very stiff winter breeze blowing across the park but his work rate on the field and a tidy second half try made his usual invaluable contribution to building the score line.

To their absolute credit despite a big difference on the score board a slightly shell shocked Windermere side continued to show the same eagerness to show their obvious ability to play good attacking rugby and forcing Kirkby into some desperate defence with the ref awarding Kirkby a yellow card, following a warning for next offence, for an over zealous tackle. After a long spell of solid but frustrating attacking the cracks in the Windermere defence were exploited by the powerful but nimble presence of Henry Thomson who out paced the Windermere defenders to touch down neatly near the post to give Ollie Higgs a fairly simple conversion. In all honesty the score line flattered Kirkby so a late powerful surge by Windermere earned them a fair reward because they truly did not deserve to go home empty handed.
The final score was 41-7 which maintains Kirkby’s second place in the league which could have seen them sharing the top spot but for Carlisle being awarded a curious free 5 points because a struggling Ambleside failed to turn up .

Jack Charlesworth evades defender Bertie Hodgson.

Report and Pictures by Robin Ree