Kendal have suffered a blow by losing talented scrum-half Lewis Kincart to Regional 1North West leaders Blackburn.
Kincart, who had already had one spell away to play for Wharfedale before returning to Mint Bridge, made his debut for Blackburn at the week-end.
He scored a try in a 52-17 home win over Manchester which kept Blackburn clear at the top.
Interestingly he was playing alongside another former Kendal player, Myles Harrop who helped himself to a hat-trick.
Harrop has been playing rugby league with Salford Red Devils and made his Super League debut last month, scoring against Warrington.
Kincart’s departure comes at a time when Kendal have been hit with a lengthy injury list, especially among the backs.
It certainly didn’t help last week when they were beaten 50-19 by Lymm who were moving second in the table behind Blackburn.
Kendal are third bottom now, desperately hoping they will have more bodies back for their trip to Macclesfield on Saturday.
Their hosts are only two places and four points ahead of them in the table and last week scored a 43-24 win at second bottom Burnage.
Still propping-up the League table without a point are Kirkby Lonsdale who were unable to build on the promise of their performance against Kendal when they lost 64-8 at Wirral.
It will be even tougher tomorrow when they travel to play Kendal’s recent conquerors Lymm.
All round it’s pretty bleak reading for the local sides playing most of their rugby outside Cumbria.
Regional 2 North has a trio of Cumbrian clubs occupying the bottom three places.
Carlisle (1), Aspatria (5) and Keswick (8) makes for depressing reading at the moment with just 14 points between them.
All of which makes Saturday’s clash at Bower Park more important for both sides as their outlook will depend on their matches against teams in the bottom half of the table.
Aspatria were highly encouraged by their performance last week in a 33-6 defeat at leaders Morpeth, who are 100% and looking the stand-out side in the competition.
Other clubs haven’t been as close as Aspatria were so that will give the Black Reds heart for their big derby clash at home to Carlisle.
The Warwick Road side continue to be affected by injuries and in what was already going to be a re-building season it really has made the job that much harder for new coach George Graham.
Carlisle were beaten 64-5 at home by Middlesbrough last week and in seven games have leaked 327 points.
Keswick are the third Cumbrian side in trouble so their home game on Saturday against Stockton is vitally important to them.
Stockton are the team just above them in the table, two points better off although they do have a game in hand at Aspatria.
Last week in their 69-10 mauling at home by Penrith the Lakesiders had several key forwards and their centre pairing out as a sickness bug, on top of injuries, hit the club.
They hope to have several back for the visit of Stockton who were beaten 29-11 at home by Durham City last week.
Penrith are the exception to the rule in Cumbria so far, flying high in second place in the table and looking to keep the pressure on Morpeth.
They should feel confident ahead of Saturday’s home game with South Shields Westoe – but of course will be guarding against any sort of complacency.
Two weeks ago Aspatria beat South Shields Westoe 62-7 and not long before that Penrith had won 48-17 at Bower Park.
Now rugby, like other sports, doesn’t always follow form lines but it could be a good indication that Penrith will be red hot favourites to collect maximum points.
In Counties 1 Cumbria the top game could be at Silloth where Cockermouth provide attractive opposition.
Wigton face a stern test at 100% Upper Eden; reviving Egremont face a trip to Millom; Creighton travel to Penrith 2nds and St. Benedict’s host Workington.
