Keswick edged out Cumbria rivals St Benedict’s by 19-12 in North Two West.
A waterlogged pitch at Davidson Park meant that for the second time this season a home fixture had to be moved to the all-weather pitch at Penrith’s Winters Park.
Keswick kicked off with the wind and occasional rain in their favour and were 7-0 ahead inside three minutes.
St Benedict’s had a kick charged down and Ally Hewett-Smith won the chase to the ball as it crossed the line with Billy Thompson converting.
Keswick mixed up forward drives with releasing the ball to the backs, but although in control overall, handling errors and stolen possession in the tackle prevented some meaningful moves from proving fruitful.
From a penalty and subsequent line-out maul, James Hinkley drove for the line but was tackled illegally and a further penalty was awarded.
Opting for a scrum, Keswick picked up at the back but, with the initial drive from Steve Moss blocked, the ball was passed out to Jamie McKenzie who was able to drive over for Keswick’s second try on 15 minutes. The kick was missed.
At this stage, Keswick looked to be in control, though the line-out continued to be a problem, with St Benedict’s stealing possession, usually through the front jumper.
As the scrums frequently wheeled, the advantage Keswick had in them failed to produce results. The penalty count against started to build, not rolling away, handling on the ground and a high tackle, taking the pressure off the visitors who opted to kick for touch rather than at goal.
A good attack came to nought when possession was lost and a subsequent tackle was judged dangerous, resulting in a yellow card for a Keswick player, putting them under pressure.
Poor discipline cost Keswick again when a free-kick led to a penalty and a line-out to St Benedict’s close to the home line.
The defence held but on 32 minutes a second yellow card, for not rolling away, reduced Keswick to 13 men for five minutes. Despite being down in numbers, Keswick were able to compete and a St Benedict’s kick through was fielded by Olly MacPherson and kicked back.
It was chased to the 22 where a pass to McKenzie saw him put in an excellent solo effort, pushing off two tackles before being brought down on the line and managing to touch down on 35 minutes.
The conversion by Thompson gave Keswick a 19-0 lead, which they held onto until halftime, although only because of a St Benedict’s final pass, with the line beckoning, being overthrown and going forward into touch.
The second half saw Keswick’s scrum maintaining its first-half dominance, but despite this, St Benedict’s were able to wheel going backwards, thwarting the opportunities for good attacking ball.
More than one Keswick attack failed as possession was lost at the critical moment, too often close to the opposition try line.
More unnecessary penalties allowed St Benedict’s to get into the Keswick 22 on 55 minutes where a good running angle allowed Gary Gibbons to cross under the posts and Ross Gainford’s conversion made it 19-7.
After this Keswick seemed to lose their cohesion and structure, which the opposition took great advantage of, culminating in a kick to clear failing and, with the backs out of position, a simple overlap allowed St Benedict’s to reduce the deficit further with an unconverted try on 64 minutes from Steven Caulfield.
A number of scrum resets when it wheeled frustrated Keswick’s attacking plans but a couple of penalty kicks to the corner kept the pressure on the visitors as Keswick looked for the bonus point try.
On one occasion a 20-metre penalty kick in front of the posts was kicked to the corner with the desire for a try bonus point seemingly to overcome the logical option of going two scores ahead first.
The last five minutes saw a resurgence of Keswick’s game, winning the line-out against the throw and driving for the line, but when success seemed inevitable, a penalty for handling on the ground allowed St Benedict’s to clear once again and that was the final attacking play of the game.
