Silloth played their first League game for four years when they hosted Penrith 2nds in the new Counties 1 Cumbria League.
It was a triumphant return as well with the Tigers recording a 24-7 victory to give their season lift-off.
The opening exchanges were very physical with Silloth dominating both possession and field position, and Penrith found themselves penned in their own 20 for much of the opening quarter.
Silloth’s game plan had included an aggressive start and they took the lead on ten minutes with a well-taken try from the elusive Ellis Nixon after good work from Joel Baker.
The second try came from 6ft 7ins forward Ross Beresford who took advantage of some sloppy tackling down the middle to crash over and Luke Johnston added the conversion.
The away side then started putting together some phases of their own and started looking much better with ball in hand.
They had a good spell when strong drives from Craig Tyson and captain Will Morgan were well backed-up by some great work from the returning Jack Peet and forward convert Callum Smaile.
Although Penrith started showing that with possession they could put together some nice phases and make good yards down the middle they couldn’t break a strong Silloth defence.
It was Silloth who added a third try on 25 minutes when Nixon again showed good feet and pace to get through the Penrith defence for his second try which Johnston converted.
With a handy19-0 lead Silloth looked set for a comfortable win but Penrith grew in confidence and enjoyed much of the possession and territory for long periods.
Sam Dudson started to release the ever- willing centre partnership of Adam Pate and Matty Boustead, the latter showing some classy touches with ball in hand.
It was him who got Penrith on the board with a converted try midway through the second half and Penrith were back in it. Chris Hellon (having his best game for the club) then raced 50 metres straight from kick off only to be brought down five metres short by a brilliant ankle tap from Reece Blake.
Penrith continued to press on the Silloth line but great defence from the home side kept them out throughout long periods of pressure.
Late on it was Silloth who grabbed another try against the run of play from a nice break down the middle by Jack Robinson, and finished-off by Ben Humm for his first-ever try.
Workington and Creighton both struggled last season in the Cumbria League and their match-up on opening day was closely contested.
In the end Creighton took it 20-18 with the winning score coming ten minutes from the end.
For Creighton stand-off Tom Verlaque and number eight Alex Taylor capped fine individual performances by scoring the tries.
Keenan Foster converted both tries and crucially added a couple of penalties while veteran prop Matt Liddle had an outstanding game.
Workington, in the process of re-building, scored tries through Rob McCrickerd and Rob Scott, one of which was converted by Adam Hodgson. They also landed two penalties from Scott and Fletcher Creasy.
There was another good contest at Mirehouse where St. Benedict’s beat Millom 24-16.
