Carlisle ended 2023 with a 31-6 home win over Hawcoat Park in front of a gathering of former players enjoying hospitality once again at Warwick Road.
Playing into the wind and rain the hosts signalled their intention to run the ball from receiving the kick off, and drove the visitors back into their half.
However it was the visitors who were first to put points on the scoreboard on four minutes when they successfully put over a penalty from 35 metres.
Carlisle’s first points came ten minutes later as a stolen line-out on halfway, allowed them to build field position on the Hawcoat 22m line.
As they attempted to kick clear, the ball was charged down, and first spread wide left, before coming back across the line where Jason Israel fed a lovely inside pass to flanker James Brocket to go under the posts.
The second try came 7 minutes later with Carlisle attacking from deep within their own half at pace, forcing the visitors onto the backfoot.
Whilst the initial attempt from a driving maul was held up on the left, a poor re-start allowed Carlisle to quickly switch across the park. At the next ruck, scrum half Vince Lung took advantage of a yawning chasm in the visitors defence, to scamper through, sidestepping the last defender and go under the posts, Israel taking care of the conversion.
Hawcoat reduced that lead a few minutes later as first a speculative penalty from 45 metres out fell short, but a second from 30 metres in front of the posts seconds later cut the deficit to eight points.
Carlisle were beginning to exert almost complete scrum dominance at this point, yet seemed unable to capitalise on the resulting possession.
They were still keen to run at the visitors which was encouraging, but despite what seemed like an eternity of a first half, couldn’t get on the scoresheet again, and had to settle for a 14-6 lead at half time.
With the now strengthening wind at their backs in the second half, that wind was to prove a nightmare for the hookers at lineouts, as Hawcoat found to their cost.
On 46 minutes, a five metre line-out for Carlisle was spoiled by the visitors, and the resulting lineout for Hawcoat bounced around before Vince Lung was quick enough to dive on the ball as it rolled over the try line.
Carlisle had another opportunity for a try from the back of a five metre scrum a few minutes later, but somehow a Hawcoat defender got under the ball to spoil it.
The drop kick from the line was held up by the wind and Carlisle again forced a scrum as they drove the visitors back. This time there was no mistake as number eight Lloyd Clark dotted down for the bonus point try, converted by Israel for a 26-6 lead.
Carlisle put the game to bed a few minutes later, when they stole a line-out on the Hawcoat 10 metre line. With the ball quickly passed across the line, Israel threaded a grubber kick through behind the advancing Hawcoat defenders, giving centre Robbie James the opportunity to use his football skills to dribble round the last defender and dive on the ball over the line for the final score of the game with an hour gone.
With 10min to go, Hawcoat had a period of sustained pressure within the Carlisle 22, but were unable to convert the possession into points.
Carlisle lost captain Josh Holmes to a red card as fisticuffs broke out, and others will have been relieved not to have followed him to the bin.
It would be Carlisle who finished the game on the ascendancy, probing away at the Hawcoat tryline, but unable to finish off a five-metre line-out catch and drive before the referee blew for time.
