A NINE tries to two defeat extended Kendal's losing run in National 3 North to six, but they were not as bad as a 59-12 defeat would suggest.

The squad travelled without South African fly-half Carl Van Molendorff, who pulled out from a comeback from a broken thumb at the last minute and life wasn't easy from the first whistle.

Bradford and Bingley are rated as promotion contenders and were keen to bounce back from an unexpected defeat by Macclesfield, and it showed in the way they set about the visitors.

Three unananswered tries in the first 15 minutes left Kendal chasing the game and they tried valiantly to get back on terms with two first-half tries from Bill Coxon and Dan Bowman, both from technically superb mauls from penalty lineouts.

The Bees always had too much pace out wide though and were virtually unopposable once they got a sniff of the opposition 22 line.

Kendal turned round 35-12 down and although they had a fair bit of possession at the start of the second half, they struggled to get into a scoring position.

As their exertions took their toll, the Bees came back again, with three more tries to make the scoreline more harsh on the visitors than their efforts deserved.