Upper Eden continued their fine run of form in Counties 1 Cumbria Conference as they won 43-0 at Whitehaven.
They travelled to west Cumbria with a much-changed team from the previous week but on a heavy pitch immediately went on the attack with penetrating drives from Will and Sam Birkbeck.
Whitehaven conceded a series of penalties for offside at the ruck, and from one Eden opted for a scrum where Sam Birkbeck broke down the blind side to feed Ollie Rose who drew his defender and fed the ball to Sam Edgar to score in the corner.
The hosts launched a series of attacks into the Eden half which were thwarted by excellent defending with Finn Rose and Sam Birkbeck to the fore. From a series of forward drives in the Whitehaven 22 Eden were awarded a penalty try for the home side collapsing a driving maul.
Eden’s defence was rock solid with relentless tackling from Finn Rose and James Birkbeck, the latter delivering one notable turnover to snub out a dangerous attack. Eden lost Cameron Dickinson to a head wound prior to half time.
From the restart Ollie Rose cleared from his 22 with a long kick which he followed up and retrieved the ball before feeding Travis Simpson who scored, and Dan Todd converted for a 19-0 lead.
Whitehaven returned to the Eden half determined to get on the scoreboard but the Eden defence was solid with Tom Mooney making a key turnover at the tackle to enable Todd to clear the lines. Then Will and James Birkbeck combined well to feed Finn Rose who crashed over and Todd converted.
Ollie Rose launched an attack out of the Eden half, and several passes found John Blue out wide who went over and Todd converted.
Eden were now dominating play with Sam Birkbeck driving into the heart of the Whitehaven half drawing the home full back and feeding Ollie Rose to score.
The final score from Eden came with a string of good hands from Ollie Luke, Joss Warren, Ollie Rose and Will Birkbeck to score under the posts, converted by Todd.
In a very good, committed game Eden’s defence was rock solid with several excellent individual performances but the Man of the Match award went to Sam Birkbeck.
