Wath Brow came out on top again after a hard, physical clash with Holmen Iggesund Cumberland ARL title rivals Maryport.
The Hornets A had beaten Maryport in the semi-final of the EB Lamb and Son Amateur Cup and followed up in the League with a 36-14 win at Giel Park.
Not for the first time Maryport started slowly and the Brow quickly established a 10-0 before the visitors hit back to lead 14-10. However, by half-time the hosts had re-stablished their lead at 20-14.
The third quarter of the game was dominated by Maryport but they couldn’t break a strong Wath Brow defence and in the final 20 minutes the Hornets produced some good attacking play to score tries and pull clear.
The Hornets had seven different try scorers in Tom Clarke, Jamie McCallister, Peter Caddy, Luke Davison, Jack Casey, Layton Dockwray and Mark Miller. Dockwray kicked four goals.
For Maryport there were tries from Craig Foster, Liam Anderson and Carl Steele with one goal from Blake Miller.
Paul Farrell the Wath Brow coach said: “We had good spells and bad spells but overall I was pleased because we only had the bare 17 and one of those put-up his hand to say he had an injury so we didn’t risk him. The effort from them all was outstanding again – faultless in fact and puts us in good stead for the League.
“We will have to be on our game now, as League leaders, until the end of the season as everyone will come at us and we face a series of Cup finals.
“The key for me was the first 20 minutes of the second-half when Maryport had most of the ball and really went for us. They are a big side with a powerful pack and they really put us under pressure. I think there was one point where we defended five straight sets on our line but our goal-line D was spot on.
“Eventually we were able to find some good field position and scored some good tries on the edges to put us clear.”
Mark Foster, the Maryport coach said: “It was a disappointing defeat for us against a Wath Brow side well led by a couple of lads with NCL experience with a lot of good lads to back them up.
“We made another slow start and actually we have conceded the first try in every game apart from one this season, so we were soon 10-0 down. We came back to lead 14-10 before conceding two tries before half-time.
“The second half could have gone either way but Brow controlled the ball better than us and scored three tries bto take the victory.
“Credit to the Brow who played well on the day but we just need to continue to work hard in training and continue to improve as every game is going to be tough for the rest of the season, starting on Friday at Cockermouth who are also up there challenging.”
In the only other League game Lowca were 56-12 winners against Flimby, scoring 11 tries, six of which were converted.
Dean Haigh led the way with a hat-trick while both Ashton Briscoe and James McNally scored twice. Matthew Needham, Mitchell Todd, Evan Hodgson and Jamie Haile were the other try scorers. Keith Campbell kicked five goals and the other conversion was by Hodgson.
For Flimby, who trailed 26-6 at the break, Tyler Beals converted two tries by Nathan Kirkbride.
Assistant coach Thomas Hodgson was in charge of the Lowca side and he said: “It was a really tough and physical game which is exactly what we expected and both sets of forwards really battled it out.
“Once we got a couple of scores on the board we settled down and scored some really good tries on our edges.
“Our young forwards really stood-up for us and laid the platform for our outside backs to score the tries.
“Full credit to Flimby they kept coming at us all game and made it really difficult for us throughout.”
Ricky Morrison, the Flimby coach said: “Lowca came with a young side but with some experience included as well which is what we expected.
“It was a great game of rugby from both sides played in a good spirit. For us Ben Harrison had an excellent game from start to finish.
“Lowca got a well deserved win in the end and we wish them all the best for the rest of the season. A special word too for the referee Trevor Dryden for keeping the game flowing.”
