Holmen Iggesund Cumberland ARL champions Distington started the defence of their title with an emphatic 58-12 home win over Maryport.
But it took a determined second-half performance by the hosts to break some good Maryport resistance and go on to win well.
It was 20-12 at half-time and still in the melting pot and Distington coach Aiden Worthington admitted he had to give his side a half-time roasting.
“Maryport gave it a real good dig and they will do well this year. They have some good young talent in the team.
“But I just thought some of our players weren’t wanting to do the hard work in the first-half and they needed a rocket.
“I’m happy to say they responded well and from being a tight game for 50 minutes we got on top and won well, playing some good rugby and scoring some superb tries. I was well pleased in the end,” said Worthington.
The first quarter had started well enough for the champions as hey went 16-0 ahead inside 21 minutes with three tries from Lewis Whitehead, Stephen Clarke and Tyrone Dalton, two of which were converted by Gavin Martin.
Then Maryport hit back with a try from Luke Cremins, converted by Josh Patterson before Clarke nipped in for his second try for Distington.
Right on the stroke of half-time Maryport reduced the arrears with a second try, this time from Patterson which he converted himself.
Four minutes after the restart Jack Penrice crossed for Distington’s fifth try which was converted by Kieran Worthington.
Maryport tried hard to stay in the game but when Scott Rooke crossed and Clarke completed his hat-trick between the 60th and 64th minutes the floodgates opened.
Whitehead scored two more to complete his hat-trick and there were other touchdowns from Rooke and Jamie Friel plus four conversions by Clarke.
There was a special word at the end from Distington coach Aiden Worthington for the referee Graeme Stewart.
“He hasn’t refereed for eight years and I thought he did really well,” he said. CARL are desperately short of referees so it was good to see someone returning to the fold.
Maryport’s head coach Mark Foster said: “We went up there hoping to give them a game but they were too good for us. They are definitely still the team to beat this season.
“We didn’t start too well but got back into it just before half-time at 20-12. But second-half it was disappointing as they dominated the game, particularly at the tackle, Scott George and Tyrone Dalton were very good at half-back controlling the game.
“It’s a question now of re-grouping during the week and preparing for a local derby on Saturday against Glasson Rangers.”
