ON A windy day at Mint Bridge poor ball retention in the scrum and slack tackling in the three-quarters put an end to Kendal's record of being unbeaten at home in North Division One, writes Dennis Aris.

Initially all seemed well when Andrew Boardley, in at scrum half in place of injured James Gough, kicked a penalty for offside from just outside the 22, but within a couple of minutes Stockport's Richard Hopkinson levelled the scores at 3-3 after Kendal were penalised for handling the ball on the ground.

The visitors also began to show they were capable of running with the ball and it took a crunching tackle by Kendal flanker Nick McKain to put an end to a Stockport move just as their three-quarters were getting up to speed.

They were not denied long, however, and a couple of missed tackles allowed Stockport back row man Peter Oosterhuizen to sell a neat dummy to Kendal full back Simon Mulholland before touching down for an unconverted try.

With the two scrums otherwise well matched Kendal's downfall became the frequent turnover ball and infringements which regularly handed the advantage back to Stockport. One such error saw Hopkinson land a 30-yard penalty in the 29th minute to make it 11-3 after Kendal were judged to have held on to the ball after a tackle.

With the wind at their backs in the second half Kendal had cause for hope when Boardley landed a penalty after Stockport failed to roll away after a tackle, but Kendal were losing 90 per cent of their line-outs as the strong wind wafted the ball the visitors' way.

Only desperate defence by John Ladell, Mulholland and the ever-present McKain held Stockport out inches from the Kendal try-line, but it was a costly stop as Ladell immediately went off injured to be replaced by under-17 colts fly-half Luke Jacobs, who was making his debut for the senior side.

Another opportunity came when Stockport second row man D. Marwick was yellow carded, but the visitors remained in charge with Hopkinson landing another penalty for 14-6 and the backs then breaking though poor defence in the centre for a converted try.

The match was effectively lost although McKain forced a face-saving try close to the end with a piece of individual skill, chipping the ball over the defence then running on to collect and score in the corner.