Penrith stage a potential title decider at Winters Park on Saturday against main rivals Morpeth.
Victory for the Cumbrians would complete a League double over their visitors and put one hand on the championship trophy.
Morpeth looked a class apart in the early part of the season until Penrith won there in November 17-13.
Since the turn of the year Morpeth have not played with the same fluency and as Penrith have been consistent with their performances the Cumbrians lead their rivals by nine points.
Morpeth need to win at Winters Park, and also win their match in hand to give them a chance over the remaining four games.
It goes without saying that if Penrith win they will be strong favourites to go on and lift the title and promotion.
Penrith go into the game on the back of a hard-earned 43-35 home win over Percy Park while Morpeth eased to a 47-10 win over Consett.
If Penrith v Morpeth is important at the top end of the table, so too is the clash at the bottom with Keswick hosting South Shields Westoe.
A magnificent but unexpected home win over Middlesbrough last week pushed Keswick out of the relegation zone – but only just.
South Shields Westoe are the team who replaced them next to bottom and they travel to the Lakes just two points behind their hosts.
A good win for Keswick would be a real tonic at this stage of the season, as they also have Consett and Stockton in their sights who are both just two points better off.
Aspatria can help the Keswick cause by beating Consett when they visit Bower Park.
The Black Reds are effectively safe from any relegation concerns in the closing weeks and will want to turn on a performance for their supporters after being beaten by Northern last week.
Northern are going strongly, which is not good news for Carlisle who travel there on Saturday.
There has been an improvement by Carlisle with successive four try bonus points in their last three games but it might be optimistic to expect a fourth at in-form Northern.
Without a win and 13 points adrift of the other relegation candidate Carlisle have six games to save themselves but it looks a tall order.
Kendal travel to Manchester in Regional 1 North West while Kirkby Lonsdale are also on the road to Macclesfield.
In the Counties 1 Conference fixtures the stand-out game is Cockermouth v Egremont while leaders Upper Eden host Wigton and Whitehaven travel to Millom.
In Conference 2 the games are: Hawcoat Park v Silloth; St Benedict’s v Penrith A; Workington v Creighton.
