An excellent crowd saw Cockermouth beat Ambleside 64-5 to get back to winning ways and maintain their good start in the Counties 1 Cumbria League.
The Wasps had been beaten 29-17 at Kirkby Lonsdale last week in the Cumbria Cup so were keen to respond from that first setback of the campaign.
Cockermouth played against the breeze in the first-half and both sides made a frantic start, vying for control.
It was the Wasps who opened the scoring on six minutes when a rapid backs move, following a line-out and ruck, ended with Thomas Nixon scoring an unconverted try.
The Wasps forwards started to gain the upper hand in the scrums and after 20 minutes Ethan Cross touched down for the second try following strong runs from Finn Reed and Nixon.
Just before the half hour Nate Lynch replaced the injured Joe Palmer which forced a backs reshuffle but it was the pack which came up trumps again.
After strong forward drives Adam Brough scored under the posts and Jake Moore added the conversion. Then as half-time approached Ollie Swain outpaced the Ambleside defence for a dynamic 50-metre breakaway try which was converted by Moore.
With a 24-0 lead at half-time the Cockermouth coach Stephen Reed began utilising a strong bench, but it was Ambleside who scored an unconverted try early on to give them some hope.
Then, fresh off the bench, Lewis Bancroft shrugged off several defenders to score under the posts for Moore to convert.
After 55 minutes the Wasps stole a line-out and following a rapid backs move Moore dotted down for a try which he converted.
Olly Lomas, on from the bench, galloped through to score after excellent interplay and again Moore added the extras.
Then followed a ten-minute period of scrappy play until a Will Nixon burst ended in a Reed try to reach fifty points and was converted by Moore.
On 76 minutes Ben Irving broke away, Moore kicked ahead, and following the chase Bancroft scored again, converted by Moore.
Just before the final whistle a fine passing move gave Greg Vickers a touch-down but although Moore failed to convert this last one he picked-up the man of the match award for a stand-out performance.
Four teams lead the way in Counties 1 Cumbria with unbeaten records – Wigton, Penrith 2nds, Egremont and Cockermouth.
Penrith 2nds look strong and they won 45-0 at home to Windermere while Egremont beat Workington 37-15.
Newlands Avenue is always a tough place to get a result, and Creighton travelled with a full squad of 20, albeit with some disruption in the pack enforced by the suspension of hooker Joel Davidson.
St Benedict’s dominated the first 40 minutes racing into a 19-0 half time lead, and the signs were ominous for Richard Liddle’s men at that point.
A battling performance in the second half ensured the home side did not add to their tally, and Creighton managed to reduce the deficit from a try by Alex Taylor, playing in the unaccustomed position of second row.
The St Benedict’s points came from tries by Kier Starkie (2) and Aaron Burns with Kyle Hiddleston converting one of them.
Tightest game was at the Playground where Whitehaven were edged-out by visitors Keswick 2nds 14-10.
Biggest disappointment, again, was Aspatria Eagles being unable to field a team for the trip to Hawcoat Park.
