A spirited and determined display in atrocious weather conditions secured four valuable North One West points for Liverpool St Helens at former National League side Kendal.

On a day when every man stood up to be counted it is hard to ignore the exceptional workload and performance of skipper Jan Lourens and number 8 Phil Kearns. Lourens tackled himself to a stand-still whilst the experienced Kearns was everywhere as well as skilfully orchestrating the pack.

The players took the field just as a huge thunderstorm hit the ground and Liverpool St Helens, playing with the wind, went ahead in their first attack. Kendal were penalised for being offside in the 2nd minute and Greg Smith made no mistake with the penalty.

In the early stages both sides tried to make light of the conditions but it was clear that handling and control would be difficult. Kendal launched a series of attacks leading to a successful penalty from Mark Carruthers in the 21st minute and followed this with a period of pressure.

LSH weathered this, together with the loss for ten minutes of Alex McClurg, before taking the lead in sensational style after 33 minutes. Full back Ian Stanley burst through the Kendal defensive line forty yards out before passing to Smith, sprinting up on his outside.

The fly half skipped past the Kendal full back and ran round behind the posts, before converting the try to give LSH a 10-3 half time lead. With both sides’ line-outs and scrums working well the second half was always going to be a close affair although Kendal were now playing with the wind and rain at their backs.

Kendal’s pressure eventually brought them a try in the 62nd minute when lock forward Reece Tomlinson scored from a successful catch and drive close to the left hand corner Carruthers missed the difficult conversion.

Whilst Kendal looked to attack again, LSH created two glorious chances on the break but a combination of Kendal’s defence and some treacherous puddles foiled Dan Filson and Ian Stanley’s efforts.

For the remaining ten minutes or so it was one way traffic with LSH steeling themselves to stop Kendal scoring. This they did magnificently with a combination of unwavering tackling and the frequent use of Greg Smith’s boot to give them all a breather.

The pack won a scrum against the head in front of the LSH posts with six minutes to go and with tremendous resolve and care from every LSH player, the last four minutes of the game passed without a Kendal hand on the ball. This week LSH are at home to Kirkby Lonsdale. Kick off 2.15.