Keswick produced the outstanding performance in National Two North when they won 58-7 at Carlisle.
The hosts had gone into the game as Cumbria’s top side in the Division, the only one in the top half of the table.
But after making a fine start, scoring a converted try inside the first five minutes, those proved to be the only points that Carlisle managed in the whole game.
Keswick coach Garry Holmes said: “The lads reacted really well to the early pressure Carlisle put us under. The backs clicked off the platform the forwards created and it was a really good performance in terms of everyone doing their jobs.
“If we can focus week in and week out like that we should get some good results going forward.”
Opposite number George Graham’s thoughts haven’t been made public but it was clear that Keswick had a game plan that Carlisle simply couldn’t match, and who struggled to put into action any plan of their own.
They’ll need to concentrate on putting those errors right in training this week, before they entertain Morpeth at Warwick Road on Saturday.
Yet it started so well, with a classic five metre line-out catch and drive, which at first was illegally pulled down, and then the second attempt saw Tom Graham go over in the corner. Jason Israel added the conversion for a 7-0 lead after just four minutes.
For the next ten minutes Carlisle continued to press, but often the final pass was just out of reach or dropped, meaning that the game just didn’t flow.
Eventually Keswick broke out of defence, just being stopped short of Carlisle’s five metre line. Though they managed to get the ball out into touch, the visitors used the line-out to their advantage with Jack Tinkler scoring close to the posts. Kieran Mewse added the extras to level the scores.
Mewse would turn the screw up adding two 40 metre penalties with ease to put Keswick into a 13-7 lead with just over 20 minutes gone.
Keswick then added a second after a Carlisle attack broke down, and the ball was fly hacked up the field. The bounce beat the last Carlisle defender, and with Keswick kicking it through again Chris Potter easily won the foot race to dot down. Mewse added the extras.
Keswick just piled the pressure on the home side, and a former Carlisle player Glen Weightman was expertly controlling the visitors, kicking deep into Carlisle territory to keep them pinned back in their half.
A 50:22 from him, gave the visitors possession around Carlisle’s 22 long enough for him to be put in space to successfully drop kick Keswick further into the lead on the half hour mark.
Another Carlisle attack broke down with a knock on, and Keswick attacked from deep. The kick through again caught-out Carlisle with the last defender being pinged for holding on.
With Jake Whittaker binned for preventing a quick tap penalty, it just delayed the inevitable. The visitors moved the ball right across the park from the scrum for their third try, scored by Mewse, who added the conversion. They were 30-7 in front and heading out of sight.
With a man down, Carlisle were struggling now to defend the wide spaces, and another ball quickly across the park, exposed the gaps, and Keswick had their try bonus point through Ryan Weir. The inevitable Mewse conversion gave them a 7-37 lead at half time.
Carlisle started the second half with a lot more intensity and had a sustained 10 minutes in the visitors half trying to look for another score.
A mixture, though, of dropped balls, knock-ons and Weightman’s kicking, meant that Keswick were back up deep into Carlisle’s 22 before long.
It was inevitable then that a cross-field kick from Weightman to Ned Barnes brought their next score, increasing their lead and followed by a Mewse conversion.
Carlisle just simply couldn’t get things going at all, through a mixture of their own mistakes, and Keswick’s defending.
Another knock-on at half way gave Keswick a chance to attack from deep, and a miss pass from Weightman to Danny Price saw him break through the Carlisle defence for a 50 metre dash to the line, for their sixth converted try on the hour mark. It also brought up their half-century.
Keswick weren’t finished and added their final try five minutes from time, as Carlisle’s tiring defence let Wear weave through unchallenged and the Mewse conversion finished the game.
