LIFE is looking up for Kendal, who find themselves going for a fourth successive win in National League 3 North after a rip-roaring result at Rugby Lions leaves them contemplating the top half of the table rather than the bottom.

New Brighton are next up at home tbis Saturday, when the Black and Ambers attempt to reverse a 21-18 defeat which came via a last-minute penalty in late November.

Kendal coach Neil Rollings gives his starting line-up from Rugby a vote of confidence by selecting an unchanged side.

TEAM: S. Mulholland, J. Ladell, M. Armstrong, P. Dodds, L. Ladell, D. Stephens, M. Airey, B. Coxon, D. Green, R. Harryman, D. Preston, M. Capstick, L. Hayton, D. Bowman, A. Bateson.

Replacements: A. Martindale, J.

Nicholson, M. Bowman, D. Bibby.

The match, sponsored by Barclays Bank/Bowmans Accountants, kicks off at 2pm.

Rugby Lions......... 8 Kendal...............23 KENDAL showed a tremendous will to win at Rugby Lions which should stand stead them in great stead going into 2005.

This victory saw them record their first back-to-back away victories since March 2001 and was all the more meritorious for not having played for four weeks due to last week's postponed game against Blaydon.

Kendal did show signs of the lay-off in the opening 15 minutes and after scrappy play on the edge of their own 22, they conceded a third-minute penalty which Rugby right wing Alan Mitchell put between the posts.

Eight minutes later ex-Rugby League player scrum-half Scott Clendenning-Fenton showed an elusive burst of pace to spurt from behind a ruck and skip through several attempted tackles to score beside the posts.

Mitchell missed a straightforward conversion but nevertheless the home side had an early 8-0 lead.

Kendal steadily began to feel their way into the game and scored their first points in the 25th minute.

The forwards set the platform and by the end of the game they had run Rugby ragged in a first-rate display.

Scrum-half Mark Airey created the opening when he spotted space ahead, put up a long kick from behind a ruck.

Centre Martin Armstrong chased hard to claim the ball after a favourable bounce and fed it out to John Ladell, who was tracking him closely, and he sped in at the corner for a try, which Dan Stephens brilliantly converted from the touchline.

Nine minutes later, stand-off Stephens kicked the first of his three penalties. A superb flowing move into the Rugby 22 was spoilt by a blatant offside and Stephens made no mistake in slotting the ball between the posts.

A penalty in the first minute of first half injury-time put Kendal 13-8 ahead at half time.

From another Kendal attack, Armstrong's elusive running had the home defence in trouble and when his pass found full back Simon Mulholland, Kendal seemed certain to score their second try.

However, Mulholland was tackled by the centre, who was penalised for not rolling away and shown the yellow card as a result.

A third penalty from Stephens came early in the second half when one of the Rugby flankers was penalised for diving in at the side of a ruck.

Kendal did scored a second try and Armstrong was again heavily involved. He found space in midfield and, with the defence closing in, he kicked ahead. Left wing Luke Ladell won the foot race to boot the ball over the tryline and touch down for the score.

Stephens converted to give Kendal a 23-8 lead. Although Kendal did not score again, they always looked a threat and some outstanding tackling shut out Rugby, who looked one-paced and short of ideas by the end.

Kendal will be especially pleased with their discipline: they were only penalised on five or six occasions during the entire game.