Stockport double their try count for the season with two well taken tries.

After several weeks of suffering major defeats Stockport bounced back against Kendal, doubling their try count for the season with two well taken tries. Visitors Kendal still took the spoils with a 36-16 victory but this was a much improved Stockport performance.

The forwards, strengthened by the return of Jordan Pearson once again put in a good performance, with a huge effort from everyone but man of the match, hooker Andy Broadhurst was very worthy of his award. Skipper Kieran Hibbs led by example and scored the second of Stockport’s tries. The first was scored by fullback Mike Hughes, following up a kick by scrum half Dudley Southern, who kicked two penalties to complete Stockport’s scoring. 17 year old Ollie Pattinson made a promising debut when he came on as a substitute in the centre. Some handling errors and some missed touch kicks allowed Kendal to attack from what looked like promising positions for the home side. More work in the coming weeks will hopefully reduce these errors and there will be more improved performances to build on this great effort.

The first half was only 4 minutes old, when Kendal scored their first try, going through 4 phases before their centre was able to score under the posts. Only 4 minutes later, despite some good defending by Stockport, Kendal got the ball wide for a score out on the right. With both these tries converted the visitors already had a 14 point lead. There was more defending to do and Stockport did this well until the 25th minute when the Kendal No 8 picked up from a scrum and ran 30 meters to score. Southern replied with a penalty for Stockport before some good running by Kieran Hibbs, Simon Curry and Andy Mycock created a good attacking position. A penalty for an illegal tackle on Sean Gill gave Southern a second penalty success to make it 19-6 to Kendal at half time. This was definitely the best first half of the season for Stockport.

Kendal were first on the board in the second half with two early tries. Stockport replied on 50 minutes as full back Hughes followed Southern’s kick and took the loose ball as Kendal failed to deal with the kick to run in from the 22. Kendal had another score as they quickly moved the ball from right to left for their wing to score unopposed, with the conversion Kendal now had a 36-11 lead. Stockport responded positively and from a 5 metre scrum Pearson picked up and a good drive created the opportunity for Hibbs to score his try and complete the scoring at 36-16 to the visitors.

There is no game next week, the next game is Billingham away on Saturday 22 October.