Carlisle’s painful season limped on with more injuries and another North One West defeat.
The performance in a 59-12 defeat at Wilmslow was, in parts, gutsy and committed, but ultimately not enough to overcome a well drilled home side.
They had enough power and pace to keep Carlisle pinned back in their own half for long periods in this game.
But much of the talk since the week-end has been about the proposed League restructuring which is expected to be confirmed later this week.
Indications are that Carlisle will be put into a north-east League with many shorter trips, which the club hope will see players make themselves more available for, rather than the long trips to the depths of the north-west.
It would seem a sensible shift given that Aspatria went that route to Durham Northumberland One and have enjoyed their rugby this season. There’s also been a reluctance from Lancashire and Cheshire clubs to accept added Cumbrian presence in the North West Leagues.
The tone for the game at Wilsmlow was set in the first few minutes, with Carlisle playing into the wind. A poor kick out of defence was collected by the Wilmslow half backs and finding a gap in the defence they ran straight through for the first try of the game after just five minutes.
A scrum penalty conceded by Carlisle five minutes later gave Wilmslow the opportunity for a five metre line-out which they mauled over for their second converted try.
Carlisle were struggling to deal with the wind, but Wilmslow were using it to great effect, pinning Carlisle back at every opportunity. Just short of the half hour mark, Wilmslow bagged their third try as they drove over from a scrum five metres out.
Carlisle attempted to break back and some good hard running from both Dan Yeoman and Josh Holmes saw Carlisle up to five metres out from the Wilmslow line.
However as Holmes got isolated, and Wilmslow were awarded the penalty, a quick tap and go saw their speedy winger blitz through the Carlisle lines to run the length of the field for their bonus point try.
Carlisle attempted to break back quickly from the restart, but as they were going forward down the left, and interception saw another Wilmslow speedster dash down the touchline to make the score 35-0 at half time.
Any hopes that Carlisle had of rescuing anything from the game were quickly dashed from the restart as Wilmslow bagged an early try in the second half, with their winger being allowed space to run through the Carlisle defence.
From there on it was one way traffic, as Wilmslow used their strength and speed to carve through the Carlisle defence and another two tries followed before the hour mark.
Carlisle did gain some small crumbs of comfort as Dan Yeoman finally managed to find a way through the home defence on 75minutes, then Euan Forlow, also found a gap for their second, but it was too late by then for any hope of salvaging anything out of the game.
Another day, another injury, as Matty Little sat out three quarters of the game with a head knock, and Carlisle are down to the bare bones of a squad that has been knocked about this season, like no other.
The club is hoping it can manage to keep enough players fit to see the season through.
