Saturday's Coming: Kells

Kells' cliff-top ground by the sea. A tough gig for ball-boys.

And so the magic of the Challenge Cup hauls us up the M6 to deepest West Cumbria. On a Saturday teatime. The ony compensation is that we at least we get to play a team with a rich Challenge Cup history

Perched on a cliff just to the south of Whitehaven, Kells was originaly a coal-mining community - and the foundation of the rugby league club is entwined in the town's colliery past. Formed in 1931, the original club used Haig Pit's changing and bath facilities until the pit closed.

Post-war, the club reformed and in 1946 Kells were called into Challenge Cup action, drawn against  Warrington in a two-legged first round tie. Kells lost the first game at the Recre' by
3-0. In the return game at Wilderspool they lost 27-0. It was the first of a number of Challenge Cup appearances - in which Kells and the city of Leeds seem magnetically drawn together!

In 1959 Kells reached the first round of the Challenge Cup losing 55-9 to Hunslet (who, at the time, were top of the RFL!) .  It was an interesting contest as it pitted the country's top pro-side against the country's top amateurs. Indeed, it was the season in which Kells created history by winning all available honours: the Cumberland Challenge Cup, Cumberland Championship Cup and Cumberland Under-21s Shield. They also went through the 1958-59 season undefeated, with crowds of up to 1,000 watching their home games.

That season's record read: Points for: 790. Against: 74. Their only loss in all competitions was to Hunslet. It's interesting to note that the Kells side's fitness and physical dominance was attributed to the fact that most of the side were Haig Colliery miners.

Just in case you thought RFL cock-ups were a recent thing, in1965 Kells qualified for a place in the Challenge Cup but due to an admin mix up, were not registered at Rugby League headquarters & were removed from the draw.

Ah, we knew we had one
of these somewhere.

In 1986 Kells lost - again - to Hunslet, 20-8 at Elland Road in a preliminary round tie. Twelve months later they produced a stunning 4-4 draw with Fulham at the Recreation Ground before losing the replay at Chiswick by 22-14. The year after they played the mighty Leeds at Whitehaven going down by a creditable 28-0 in front of 6000 fans!

Almost inevitably, in 1992 Kells were drawn against Hunslet at the Recre. - Hunslet again winning, this time by 32-14.

Fast forward to the present and Kells is a club on a bit of a roll.

18 months ago TLCRF80mins saw Kells play Underbank Rangers at The Cross, eventually going down 28-18 in a high-quality see-saw of a game. And, as it turns out, it was a rare defeat!

Having only joined National Conference Division 3 (what, effectively used to be the 'Summer Conference' level) in 2013 after decades as a stalwart of the Cumberland League, Kells made an immediate impact: promoted as champions at the first attempt.

Then last year - just to prove it wasn't a fluke - they repeated the feat; steaming through Division two and promoted as champions with two games to spare. Impressive stuff.

Kells secured their place in the third round of this year's Challenge Cup with an emphatic 52-6 win over Blackbrook, featuring a pair of hat-tricks from Scott Lofthouse and Troy Armstrong, with Dom Wear kicking 8 from 9 conversions - and weighing in with a try.

Indeed, this game has 'banana-skin' writ large across it - so Hornets will have to be on their mettle if we are to progress and secure a tie with one of the 'medium-time' clubs who come in at the next round. And yes, we know it's a long way; and yes we know it clashes with Ant & Dec's Saturday Takeaway - but we expect the lads to give their all, so we should reciprocate. Go on - stick three mates in the car and get yourself up to the recre. You can't possibly have anything more interesting to do on a Saturday evening. We'll see you there.


See here:
For more on Kells, we found a great sports blog with some great photographs . Go take a look  at this really good sports blog!

Hornets give Scorpions Nothing

Hornets 40 - South Wales Scorpions 0

On another arctic-cold day, Hornets overcame tundra-like conditions, persistent icy rain and a stubborn if unspectacular South Wales Scorpions to progress to the next round of the lovely new iPro Cup (formerly, last week, the League 1 Cup).

On a day when good handling was going to be at a premium, Hornets played the conditions better - and were quick off the mark. Having fumbled possession early in the tackle count, Hornets recovered the ball from an equally lax Scorpions and made it count: Danny Bridge scoring off a short Danny Yates ball after just four minutes: Paul Crook adding the extras for 6-0.

It was Crooky again causing havoc three minutes later: his steepling bomb was gathered by Brad Hargreaves who was held up over the line. and, when possession was handed over close the Scorpions line, stern Hornets defence forced a drop-out.

From the resulting possession, Alex McClurg embarked on a last-tackle blind-side sneak to send Brad Hargreaves in at the corner: 10-0 and Hornets with all the momentum.

A ten minute spell of loose handling gave South Wales the breathing space they needed to regroup and it needed a one-metre Alex McClurg sucker-punch try from a metre to break the stasis. Crooky with the two and Hornets seemingly back in the groove at 16-0.

But stray passes and loose carries in the challenging conditions continued to plague any real progress - a seemingly good Paul Crook try (struck off for offside, chasing a Danny Yates kick) the only respite.

The introduction of Dean Mignacca on the half hour had an immediate - and literal - impact, with three consectutive crunching tackles; his first a shuddering bone-shaker that left a Scorpions forward in a crumpled heap.

The visitors did rally briefly - their only real threat of the first half, forcing a 33rd minute drop-out as they drove Wayne English back in-goal.

With the half slipping away, Danny Yates released a pinpoint 40/20, but the ball was coughed first tackle. But there was just time for Yates to jink his way through a flat-footed Scorpions defence and score. Crooky's conversion giving a more convincing 22-nil view of proceedings.

Hornets started the second half with a sense of purpose: barely a minute gone when Dean Mignacca switched play to the narrow side to slot Dale Bloomfield in by the flag. Crooky landing a beauty from the touchline: 28-0.

But Hornets made a complete horse's arse of the kick-off, allowing it to bobble dead and shipping a drop-out. Thankfully, while the Scorpions applied some pressure, they couldn't unlock a determined Hornets defence. The pressure was eased by a booming Danny Yates 40/20, but a mistimed pass to Dave Hull saw the ball hit the deck  - which seemed to suck the momentum out of the game.

Twixt the 45th and 65th minute, very little of import happened and it took a Jordan Case try - relentlessly chasing down a Crooky bomb - to shake off the torpor. Crooky the two: 34-0.

On 75 minutes, the Tony Suffolk juggernaut arrived, capping a man-of-the-match performance with a barnstorming bulldozer of a try. Crooky with the conversion to bring up 40-0.

There was just enough time for James Dandy to shrug his way through some tired tackles - only to be deemed to have been held-up in-goal.

No matter. For a first competitive hit-out, it'd be churlish to moan too much about nilling a side, and scoring forty points in the process. And to say that South Wales could well have played until midnight and still have struggled to fashion a viable chance would be to undermine a solid defensive effort. Indeed, whilst the forty-points is good it is the 'nil' that's more impressive.

Hornets' reward is a trip to Big Spending North Wales Crusaders™ - who beat Conference side West Hull by 36-10 in their first round tie. They led just 14-nil at the break and faded to concede two late tries.

As a benchmark, the other iPro cup scores were:

Barrow 16-14 UG All Golds

Keighley Cougars 64-0 East Leeds

London Skolars 10-78 York City Knights

Oldham 42-6 Coventry Bears

Oxford 20-56 Newcastle Thunder

Swinton Lions 34-0 Hemel Stags