Thatto Heath Crusaders put-up a stirring effort against their North Wales namesakes in the Challenge Cup last week.
Tomorrow they entertain a Kells side who opened their National Conference campaign a week earlier with an excellent win at Leigh Miners Rangers.
The St. Helens amateurs only lost 18-10 – scoring two tries to the visitors’ three – and it was a man of the match performance from former Whitehaven coach Carl Forster, now player-coach at North Wales, which made the difference.
Kells coach Peter Smith was well-pleased with his side’s win at Leigh Miners but knows this is going to be a bit tougher.
Last week it should have been the west Cumbrian derby between Kells and Wath Brow but that was postponed because of the Hornets involvement in the Challenge Cup at Batley Bulldogs.
The Championship side proved too powerful on their own Mount Pleasant pitch with a convincing 60-0 victory but Wath Brow had thought they were off to a flier when Morgan McCourt crossed very early on but the score was disallowed for a forward pass.
In the second-half Callum Farrer was also close to a try when he followed-up his own kick through. It would have been nice for the Cumbrians to at least go home with a consolation score.
There will have been some sore bodies after that clash and Wath Brow will be hoping there are no lasting effects when they line-up tomorrow for a testing game in Castleford at Lock Lane.
Egremont Rangers got their Division One season up-and-running last week with a 60-4 home win over Thornhill Trojans and will try to follow-up tomorrow at Oulton Raiders. It will be tricky as their hosts were eye-catching 38-0 home winners against Featherstone Lions last week.
As with Egremont, south Cumbrian rivals Barrow Island managed their first Division Two win last week against Wigan St. Jude’s.
It finished 24-4 but it got a bit nervous in the end as St. Jude’s closed to 24-20 and tomorrow’s follow-up home game with Saddleworth Rangers can be expected to be a tad tougher.
Seaton and Ellenborough kicked-off their Third Division campaign a week before the rest so they are not involved tomorrow but both Hensingham and Millom have matches.
After being beaten 40-14 by Elbra last week Hensingham will expect to be a lot more in the contest at home to Eastmoor Dragons as they look to get their campaign rolling.
Millom would like nothing better than to crown their 150th anniversary season with a trophy and they enjoyed a 40-6 win over Seaton last week. They are on the road to Oldham St Anne’s who lost out 24-20 in their opener at Leigh East.
