Kirkby Lonsdale 7 Carnforth 29 CARNFORTH ended their season with a convincing victory over a strong Kirkby XV to gain revenge for the defeat at the hands of the same team after a last minute drop goal.

Right from the off Carnforth showed their intentions running the ball at every opportunity deep into the Kirkby half. After only five minutes Carnforth had taken the lead when two of the Rich brothers, Brendan and Shane linked up from a penalty move to weave his way over for a try.

Soon after and the lead had been doubled, this time winger Phil Metcalfe making a superb break before releasing centre Kevan Holden to score Carnforth's second try. Carnforth enjoyed a lot of the ball with the back row of Graham Rich, Shane Rich and Craig Walker in dominant mood all afternoon. With half backs Jason Coulton and Stuart Whitham linking up superbly the lively backs saw a lot of possession. However some determined tackling by the hosts kept Carnforth out and Kirkby rallied out of defence and moved into the Carnforth half.

After withstanding the late first half pressure, Carnforth went into the second half with a 10 point win and also in search of further tries to clinch the victory. An early try was vital and this came out when Graham Rich went on one of his devastating runs to score a fine individual try under the posts. Full back Keith Porter converted for a 17 point lead. Quarter of an hour later and Carnforth grabbed two tries in quick succession both coming from flying winger Sam Ripley who grabbed his first hat trick for Carnforth. His first came when centre Gavin Barton made a telling break before shipping the ball to Ripley and his second from a superb grubber kick by prop Richard Short. Porter converted one of the two tries for a 29-0 lead. Kirkby came back into the game as Carnforth took their feet off the pedal and were rewarded with a fine solo try from their stand off as he raced through, sold a superb dummy and ran clear under the posts, also converted for a consolation 7 points.

With a bad injury arising to a Kirkby player the referee ended the game 5 minutes early after a word with both captains. The end of the game also signalled the end of a long season for both teams and for Carnforth it signalled the end of their most successful for a number of seasons winning 14 and drawing two.

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