It’s mopping up time in league rugby across the north with unplayed fixtures to be fitted in over the next fortnight.
The season should have ended last Saturday for everyone but some of our region’s clubs still have matches to play.
Upper Eden need a point from their last two games to win the Counties 1 Cumbria for effectively a third successive season and a richly deserved promotion. It will compensate for Saturday’s 38-5 defeat to Penrith in the Cumbria County Cup final.
They go to Millom on Saturday and then host Cockermouth the following week. Cockermouth are the only team to beat them in league rugby for three years.
In Regional North 2 West Penrith have already secured the title but still have one more game to play at Durham City. That has been fitted in for Saturday, April 1.
Keswick are also completing their programme that day at Consett but there won’t be any relegation concerns ahead of that trip. South Shields Westoe lost 27-8 at Northern last week so they will accompany Carlisle in the drop.
Carlisle went through the season without a win and finished with a 45-14 defeat at Middlesbrough on Saturday.
It was even worse for Kirkby Lonsdale as their miserable season ended with a 47-7 home defeat by Wirral – and the end couldn’t have come too soon.
They lost all 22 games in Regional 1 North West and in the end conceded 1,616 points – including that horrendous 190-0 defeat at Blackburn.
Kirkby Lonsdale will go down along with Burnage (14 points) with Kendal well clear of the drop zone on 37 points, if not in position – third bottom.
As well as Upper Eden’s trip to Millom there are two other games in Counties 1 Cumbria Conference with Cockermouth hosting Whitehaven and Egremont travelling to Wigton.
In Counties Cumbria Conference 2 scheduled games are: Creighton v Hawcoat Park; Penrith A v Silloth; St Benedict’s v Workington.
