Kirkby Lonsdale 15, Bury 15.

A HOT day day and the prospect of playing upon a good pitch greeted Bury at Underley Park on the first-ever meeting between the sides.

From the kick-off Bury took play into the Kirkby half and threatened the tryline.

Although stretched, Kirkby tackled excellently ing with the visitors attacking from the base of the scrum rather than moving the ball wide.

Hurst and Storey led by example to keep Bury out and eventually Kirkby got into their opponents' half and a strong run from stand-off Crowe signalled that the visitors might be vulnerable to a good passing move.

It came up the right with the ball passing through many pairs of hands before Barton joined from full back to take the final pass and score in the corner.

Turfrey's long-range conversion fell just short.

Almost immediately, Bury came back to cut the lead to 5-3 when Robinson replied with a successful penalty.

Kirkby supporters were encouraged by the side's steadily improving play and another good attack up the right touchline ended with winger Chapman scoring in the corner, with the conversion again short.

Kirkby suffered a blow when an injury to Dowker, who had played a prominent role, brought his replacement by Bainbridge.

The first half ended without further score but Kirkby were looking confident.

Kirkby kept on the pressure and fed the ball left for Atkinson to turn inside his man and fly past several defenders to score an excellent solo try, again unconverted.

Play evened up for a while but Kirkby did not look in any danger, especially as the Bury backs had shown little enterprise.

It may have caused complacency for Bury drew in the defence and centre Botha drove through with surprising speed to score under the posts.

An easy conversion attempt went wide and Kirkby came back when Turfrey, outstanding in the backs, looked almost able to reach over to score only to be driven back.

Instead Bury went upfield to create an almost identical opportunity for Botha, and the big man again showed his pace to go under the posts once more.

This time Robinson made no mistake with the kick to tie the scores at 15-15.

With time running out, Crowe was short with a long-range penalty for Kirkby but good running by Squires, Joe Hadwin and Chapman created several near-breakthroughs - if there was the danger at times of leaving players isolated.

Indiscipline crept in and Kirkby conceded several penalties to give Bury an attacking lineout, but the home team smothered the ball and the referee blew for full time.

Captain Whittaker will be pleased with the improvement , which offers promise of Kirkby developing into a side which will play attractive rugby.