Warrington 10
Kendal 32

WARRINGTON’S magnificent run of 25 consecutive home wins came to an abrupt halt at the hands of a strong Kendal side.

The visitors’ dominance, built by their powerful pack and the unerring boot of winger Andrew Boardley, ended a superb run stretching back to April 2011.

“It’s disappointing to lose such a proud home record,” said coach Andy Roberts.

“However, it is no disgrace to lose it to a side like Kendal, who were playing in the league above last year.

“Perhaps we helped their game plan by spilling too much ball at the turnover but we did show that we can defend, as they crossed our line only once, even though they enjoyed eighty per cent of possession.”

Kendal came to Warrington with a simple game plan, to monopolise possession by dominating in the set scrums, ruling the line-outs and controlling the break-downs, before relying on the accuracy of their kicker to punish any Warrington mistakes.

The game plan worked well, especially in the first half, where they enjoyed the vast majority of the possession, kicked five penalties and added a converted try from a forward drive to open a 22-5 half time lead.

Warrington had broken the deadlock through Christian White’s surging drive after Kieran Hughes had been held short, but that was as good as it got for the hosts before the break.

Warrington did give their supporters faint hope of a Lazarene comeback when they scored the best try of the match 10 minutes into the second half.

The backs combined with Jono Smith, who, in his last game for the club before returning to Wales, provided two superb off-loads before Jake Ashall made the telling break and fed to Steve Pilkington finish off in style.

Unfortunately, this proved to be Warrington’s last scoring contribution, as Kendal tightened their stranglehold through their powerful pack.

Warrington put up a sterling defence, especially through the back row of Matt Connelley, Jake Ashall and Sean Callendar, but Kendal kicked another penalty before being awarded a penalty try to wrap up the scoring.