It all came down to the last game of the season for Keswick as they needed a win to guarantee safety in the Regional 2 North League.
They achieved their target with a 21-12 home win over West Hartlepool and will compete at RFU level 6 again next year.
Weather conditions were awful all week and it was touch and go if the pitch was fit to play. A group of volunteers got to work on Saturday morning to clear surface water so the game could go ahead albeit in heavy conditions.
Further complications were added when a message came through that the exchange referee from Northumberland had a car breakdown and would not be able to make the game.
A swift phone call to Mike Firby of the Cumbria Referees Society and he worked his magic to ensured that Martin Denver was on site to officiate, albeit with a later kick off at 3.15 pm
A large crowd had gathered for the day including around 80 attending the former players reunion. They were looking forward to witnessing a battle and it turned out that way.
The game started with West Hartlepool in possession for the first ten minutes and Keswick defending stoutly in the mud trying to counter.
More or less the first time Keswick had sustained possession, good breaks by Henry Etisoy and Stephen Moss got the forward pack into position to set up a driving maul from a good 15 metres out.
With the backs joining in they steamrollered to the line where Will Addyman emerged from the pile-up as the opening try scorer. The conversion was just missed.
West didn’t take this lying down and proceeded to dominate the next ten minutes and made use of the strong wind to clear their lines and mount a good handling move to score in the cornerwhich levelled the scores.
This galvanised Keswick to step-up in attack and shortly after direct running from captain Jamie Mackenzie and fellow front row forward Dan Allaker earned a penalty.
A kick to the corner set up a driving maul from the resulting line out. The Keswick pack worked the ball towards the middle of the field eventually driving over with Karl Smyth scoring the try and Kieran Mewse converting to give a 12-5 half time lead.
Keswick kicked off the second half with the wind at their backs and were determined to make better use of it than West did in the first half.
With experienced half backs Matty Roper and Glen Weightman controlling the midfield the Keswick forwards continued to dominate at the breakdown and provide good ball.
A number of turn-overs allowed Weightman to kick for position and keep West back in their own half.
Inevitably penalties were conceded and with Mewse in good kicking form the lead was stretched out to 21-5 after three well-taken kicks.
As the game headed into the last ten minutes, the crowd got behind the team to keep up the fine defensive effort and see out the game.
There was one final push from West where they deservedly scored a try under the posts but after the conversion there was little time left on the clock and when the final whistle went there was great congratulations for the team and a big sigh of relief that Keswick escaped relegation.
Word had come through that in the other relegation battle Stockton had beaten Morpeth so it all turned out well that Keswick had sealed a win.
It brought to a close an up and down league season where Keswick competed with the best teams in the league and performed well beating third-placed Middlesborough twice and coming close to beating Northern and now promoted Percy Park.
Inconsistency played a big part over the season, mostly due to not being able to field a settled side from week to week. In the end the victory over West was an exciting conclusion and a good result which keeps quality rugby at Davidson Park for another year.
The whole club now moves onto the demolition of the 1958 clubhouse in May and the construction of new facilities.
There’s sadness at the loss of the old familiar place but happiness at gaining modern facilities to cater for the current two men’s teams and the growth in junior and women’s rugby at the club.
In the meantime there is still the matter of a home fixture versus Kirkby Lonsdale in the Papa John National Cup Competition on Saturday 20 April where another good crowd is expected.
Whilst mentioning the growth in women’s rugby, congratulations go to Keswick Falcons for their unbeaten league championship performance this season, capped off with a 50-0 victory over Darlington on Sunday.
