Upper Eden spent a frustrating afternoon at Northern in Regional 2 North as they struggled to get a foothold in the game.
It finished 50-14 to the hosts who were quickly into their stride against the Cumbrians.
Following a breakdown, they moved the ball wide and missed allowed them to break the Eden line and open the scoring with a converted try.
Good work at the breakdown from Rupert Civil following the re-start gave the visitors a penalty and the opportunity to clear their lines. From there the game ebbed and flowed in the middle of the park.
Northern were awarded a line-out on the Eden 22 and excellent work from Matthew Sanderson earned Eden a turnover.
However the home side were awarded a penalty for offside and opted to kick into the Eden half. From the ensuing line-out Northern moved the ball wide to their prop forward who crossed for the second converted try.
Eden were not getting the rub of the green and conceded a further try from a five metre scrum. Following the re-start Northern were quick on the attack, but when play broke down on the Eden 22 a melee developed involving players from both sides.
The home team were sharp to move the ball wide to score wide in the corner and a further try was scored before half time to give Northern a 33-0 lead.
There was the delay in the re-start due to an injury to a Northern player but then Eden put some good phases of play together.
Oliver Bennett was spear-tackled without the ball and the home player was given a yellow card with Eden’s Ollie Rose also shown yellow for intervening.
Eden were further reduced to 13 players following a mystery yellow card to Will Birkbeck.
The visitors rang the changes with Issac Dent, Alistair and Jeremy Civil entering the fray with all three making a positive impact on the game.
Northern scored two further tries to make the score 45-0.
But credit to the Eden players who continued to work hard and following several phases of play involving Tom Mooney, John Blue and Josh Warren they were rewarded when Sam Birkbeck crashed over to with Bennett converting.
Eden were now playing with some confidence and moved the ball wide to Alistair Civil who made good ground to eventually feed the ball to James Birkbeck to score. The conversion was good by Bennett.
Eden fielded two sets of three siblings and one set of two siblings on the pitch making it quite a unique occasion – Rupert, Alistair and Jeremy Civil; Will, James and Sam Birkbeck and Finn and Ollie Rose.
