Esher 36, Kendal 34.

KENDAL showed a never-say-die spirit to take them within two points of a tremendous comeback feat in an eight-try thriller.

Left wing Martin Armstrong try and a Mike Scott conversion and penalty put them on the scoresheet.

Then they saw a 10-3 lead turn into a 20-10 half-time deficit after Esher replied with tries from Chris Wilkinson and Duncan Cormack.

Home full back Jon Gregory converted both and added a penalty.

Esher seemed to be taking a grip on a close match when adding another 10 points without reply early in the second half.

Wilkins crossed again for his second try and Gregory kicked the extra points and put over another penalty.

Kendal launched a marvellous fightback with two tries through flanker Shaun Renwick and right wing Jason Balmer.

After Scott converted both, the gap had closed to six points.

Esher stand-off Jon Finch stopped the slide with a long drop-goal that scraped over the bar, but Scott cancelled it out with a penalty.

Finch then grabbed another drop-goal and although Renwick crashed over for his second score and Scott converted, Esher had done enough to keep their heads in front when the final whistle went moments later.