Windermere 39, Furness 15

A 10-MINUTE spell in the second half produced three Windermere tries and brought respectability to what had earlier been a decidedly mediocre performance by the home side.

After a bright opening and an early try, Windermere appeared to lose the plot and in a match littered with careless infringements, were in danger of giving the game to their equally indecisive opponents.

The penalty account against them rose alarmingly.

Fortunately, most of the penalties were even beyond the range of Furness No.

8 Horne who was striking his kicks consistently well.

Furness, who spilled and tackled hard, offered little spark in attack but Horne kept them in touch with three first-half penalties.

A strong finish by Adrian Gibson brought Windermere's opening try converted by Jonathan Cooper.

But after this promising start, the best they could manage was two simple penalty goals from close range by Jonathan Cooper.

So just four points separated the teams at the break with Windermere ahead 13-9.

Another Cooper penalty at the start of the second half followed by two more from Horne cut the difference to just one point, giving Furness a very real chance of sneaking the game.

It was tedious watching, however, and Cooper's fourth penalty did little to relieve the monotony.

Then at least, Windermere began to put together some sustained handling attacks.

Paul Rennison thrust on as the ball was moved wide by the home backs and the powerful Ian Balmer brushed aside the final tackle to drive over for a fine try in the corner.

This exciting score lifted the Windermere players and earlier problems were put firmly behind them.

Cooper kicked another penalty as the Furness defence began to falter and two more tries were added before the end.

The first followed a sustained attack involving backs and forwards.

Paul Rennison, Jeremy Wood and Ian Balmer threatened the Furness line and then Mike Gregg was hauled down just short.

Possession was retained and Rennison's inside pass was scooped up off his toes by Richard Rigg who thrust over for the try.

Jonathan Cooper converted and then crowned a good performance by intercepting a pass on halfway to run 50 yards for the final touch down.

This score put Windermere out of sight and at the same time took Cooper's individual tally to 24 points.