THE welfare ground and the Pit Road Ground at Kells have seen many a talented player cross the lines.
Rivalries ignited and relit across generations; however, Friday Night held much more poignancy as Kells, Lowca, and West Cumbrian Rugby League supporters celebrated one of their own in the annual Cameron Taylor Memorial Game.
Cameron “Tadge” Taylor was destined to be among those greats as a promising young youth player, and even as an open-age player had all the plaudits to make it to the top of the sport of Rugby League.
Sadly, however, for Cameron, the Taylor Family and the Kells ARLFC community, indeed the West Cumbrian Rugby League Community as a whole, his life was sadly taken due to a workplace accident.
Cameron was always seen as a shining light of the Kells teams he played in, full of charisma and wit, and it was fitting that the game began with the sun shining through a hazed Solway Firth backdrop.
The game started with Lowca kicking towards Whitehaven Town Center and going down the Welfare slope.
The hosts were awarded the game's first penalty for laying on after 2 tackles. Another penalty followed a tackle later for a high shot as Lowca had early pressure to deal with, and they did resolutely to gain a penalty of their own coming out of yardage for a high shot and later for a steal.
Lowca looked to be in with a two-on-one overlap, but it failed to connect, and Kells came away unscathed until they knocked on in a frantic opening five minutes.
There was a huge gap opened up on the Kells middles as Lowca took full advantage in 8 minutes to crash over from dummy half.
The scrappiness of the game continued and allowed Lowca a second score on 15 minutes when the second row burst a hole in the Kells' defence following poor handling from the hosts.
The visitors then went back to back as Ryan Wood was unable to deal with Addison Callander, who used some good footwork to see the visitors out to an 18-0 lead in as many minutes.
Kells got a relieving penalty when any one of 3 tacklers could’ve been pinged for a high shot. This was not taken advantage of as Lowca forced a knock on.
The visitors extended their lead when good hands saw the prop barge over for 0-24 after 22 minutes.
The game then ebbed and flowed between poor handling and good defence from both sides as neither was able to make headway passing the half-hour mark at 0-24.
The game erupted at halftime as Kells threw a punch in the tackle, and a big brawl ensued with a boxing-style fight as Craig Reagan struggled to regain control, later sending two players off, one for each side.
The second half started poorly for Kells when they spilled the ball as Lowca were able to regain the ball. Lowca then extended their lead when a superb step from the scrum half wrong footed half the short side of Kells to score near to the posts for 0-30 following a successful conversion.
Lowca went back-to-back for 0-36. When Kells shot the line and when the gap appeared, Lowca strolled through.
The procession continued when Emmerson Allen got his third, and Lowca passed 40 with the conversion landing to take 0-42. Lowca went back to back off the kick off as Kells fell off tackles all over the park to see them go to 0-48
Kells did manage to register a score when a penalty was awarded for a high shot, which sent them down the field. Good handling and sharp decision-making saw them cross just after the hour mark for 6-48.
Kells went in again for another with minutes to spare as star man Emerson Allen set up another try for 6-54.
Lowca went back to back once again, cementing their dominance when they cut the Kells' defensive side to shreds for 6-60.
Fittingly for Kells, they did get the last laugh and last try of the game moments before the hooter out wide with a failed conversion, the game ended in better spirits than it started as Lowca won 10-60.
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