A MUCH-challenged Windermere side was outplayed and outclassed by quick and efficient Kirkby Lonsdale at Dawes Meadow on Saturday.

Little went right for Windermere though many of their troubles were self-inflicted through lack of discipline.

Three of their players received yellow cards - two of them being off the field at the same time - while injury robbed them of the services of fly-half Jonothan Cooper for the second half.

Fortunately for them, however, Kirkby did not have a reliable kicker otherwise the score would have been much higher.

Just two of the 11 Kirkby tries were improved and before long Kirkby preferred to run a series of penalty awards which, in fact, proved a far more profitable option.

Kirkby took the game to Windermere from the start and spent most of the first half in and around the Windermere 22 with plenty of possession from scrums and lineouts.

Fly-half Dave Barton controlled the game with his elusive running and smooth service to the backs.

Kiwi Warren Slingsby proved a powerful number 8 and Windermere were left trying to survive on scraps.

The forwards tried to compete and there were brave efforts from Danny Blenkharn, Jason Brown and pro-forward Steve Bragg, but collectively the pack was outplayed.

The backs were left trying to cope with Kirkby's speedy threequarters but were generally outpaced.

Slinsgby opened the scoring for Kirkby with a forceful drive to the corner and further first-half tries were added by Hind (3) and Mallaband with Barton landing two conversions.

For a short spell at the start of the second half, the Windermere forwards had Kirkby on the back foot but could not break through.

Even then, Kirkby elected to run the ball out of defence to score several tries from moves starting in their own half.

There was little Windermere could do to stem the flow of tries and further scores from Hadwin (2), Mallaband, Slingsby, Barton and Law completed the rout.