Winnington Park 59 Keswick 23
Keswick were let down by injuries and poor tackling when they crashed to their heaviest defeat of the season – 59-23 at Winnington Park.
Keswick’s long journey south to face Winnington Park in Northwich, on Saturday did not get off to a good start, as for the third away game in a row and for the second week running they were reduced to 17 players due to injury and unavailability.
They played with the wind behind them in the first half, but facing a low winter sun with the temperature hovering around three degrees.
The first scrum had put Keswick under pressure but at this second Keswick’s dominance was clear, as the Park front row was lifted clear of the ground, though the penalty was given against Keswick for turning in.
Throughout the rest of the game, despite Keswick’s scrum dominance, it was surprising that Park were only once penalised for a scrum offence, despite variously going down, breaking their bind or being lifted off their feet.
Park kicked to touch and from the line-out in the 22 ran the ball using backs and forwards before their number eight broke through some poor Keswick tackling to score a converted try under the posts after only four minutes.
The poor tackling, rare for Keswick, was to be a feature of the game, and four minutes later Park ran the ball again, breaking tackles before a missed pass led to an unconverted touch down in the right hand corner.
Keswick’s first real attacking opportunity came after the re-start, keeping the ball tight before passing it out where a flip pass to Chris Potter on the right saw him score an unconverted try in the corner after ten minutes.
Park soon realised that if they gave the ball to their larger forwards with pace the Keswick tackling would not be good enough and so it proved, their number eight getting his second converted try running in from the 22 through four or five attempted tackles.
Keswick held out for a while but a couple of penalties put Park within range and they scored their bonus point try through their forwards.
A free kick to Keswick for pushing early at the scrum was taken quickly and the ball passed to George Holme, then Billy Thompson, before Potter scored his second unconverted try.
Keswick continued attacking when in possession but the home defence was sound until they were penalised for not releasing and Thompson converted for a 26-13 half-time score.
Keswick’s attacking play improved in the second half, using the kicking game wisely and forced a couple of penalties, the second of which was converted by Thompson and Keswick were back in the hunt.
However, the defence was still suspect and trying to run the ball in their own 22 cost Keswick as they conceded a penalty for not releasing inside the 22.
It was tapped and ran by Park who, unable to cross through their forwards, put the ball out left for a converted try, the kick going in off the upright on 58 minutes.
The poor tackling continued, with Park taking advantage by again using their larger forwards at speed to break through, scoring again under the posts for a 40-16 lead early in the fourth quarter.
As the game entered the last ten minutes a yellow card was shown to a Keswick player for a high tackle that prevented a try and a penalty try awarded.
Showing they weren’t giving up, Keswick stopped an attack by Park and, having made the successful tackle, Danny Craghill set off from inside the 22, before kicking ahead and leading the chase to the Park try line.
The result was a yellow card to a Park player for an off-the-ball tackle and a try to Keswick converted by Holme, 47-23.
The last couple of minutes provided more disasters for Keswick, however.
A clearing penalty by Keswick from the 22 failed to find touch and Park ran the ball back on the left to score an unconverted try in the corner.
Keswick’s restart kick off was caught by Park and run back on the right, with an overlap, and they scored a converted try in the right hand corner without a tackle being made.
