As the England Red Roses battled their way to a 35-17 win over France to reach the final of the Rugby World Cup, Keswick men slithered, squelched and sprinted their way to a sparkling but soggy 65-3 bonus point win over Wigton to move up to second spot in the Regional 2 North Table, writes Ben Challis.
With Davidson Park waterlogged after prolonged rain in the week and overnight, the game was moved to the Keswick School playing fields which, while most certainly damp, were certainly playable.
The first 10 minutes of the march looked well balanced, with Wigton matching Keswick in the scrum and in line outs, and whilst Wigton matched Keswick for possession, tellingly those ten minutes were played in the Wigton half.
As the game moved on, despite some good Wigton passing moves, it was now Keswick who looked threatening and 15 minutes in Peter Weightman found space on the right win and dived in to touch down, with Joe Allday adding an excellent conversion.
It didn’t take Keswick long to double their score as Callum McClary put in a great run to set up a fantastic charge from Dan Craghill who set his sights on the sticks and barrelled in for Keswick’s second try, again converted by Allday for 14-0 on the 22-minute marker. In a rare visit into the Keswick half, Wigton took advantage of a penalty awarded by referee Simon Barker against Keswick to kick for a goal, and Elliot Armstrong got Wigton on the scoreboard for 12-3.
It was against the run of play, and as the game re-started, the Keswick pressure was relentless as Karl Smyth crashed over, followed by another try on the right wing for Weightman, and then an excellent jinking run forwards from Jamie Wilson who kicked on, zigzagged forwards, and flipped the ball to Marky Trow who was unstoppable and powered through to touch down. A
final conversion and then a penalty goal from Allday left the score at half time at 34-0.
The second half was more of the same, albeit in an ever heavier downpour, with the playing surface at Primavera now distinctly soggy.
The pace of Ryan Weir looked a constant threat to a tiring a Wigton defence, and having had one charge desperately blocked by Wigton, on the restart Weir stormed up the right win to slide in under the Wigton sticks for Keswick’s sixth try, before Jack Tinkler made valuable yards and released Weightman who brushed off two tacklers to dive in for his hat trick and Keswick’s seventh try.
With Tinkler and Weightman now driving Keswick forwards, and Craghill and McClary ever busy, Keswick dominated possession and there was still time for a debut home try for Ethan Spencer who outpaced the Wigton defence to touch down, followed by Ryan Weir pouncing on his own kick forwards to neatly collect the ball and add his second, with Allday adding his sixth and final conversion, and last but not least a grinding Keswick driving maul from just inside the twenty two which powered forwards to allow Lewis Davis to touch down for Keswick’s 10th and final try.
In other third round results in what now looks like a generally very competitive division, Consett defeated Upper Eden 19-15, Durham lost out 18-22 to table toppers Northern, Guisborough fell to a 12-22 to third placed Percy Park, Morpeth took down Aspatria 29-0, and West Hartlepool lost out 11-13 to fourth placed Sunderland at home.
After the game head coach Garry Holmes said: “We spoke this week about bouncing back from the disappointment against Aspatria. We saw a great response from the players all week.
“We knew it would take time to break Wigton down, and they have the ability to score lots of points.
“The match was all about the collective, everyone doing their own job and trusting each other. We built from an aggressive line press in defence, and we were looking to dominate the contact area. In attack our pack created momentum to propel our backs into spaces.
“There were a number of outstanding performances. However, Marky Trow led with his physical brand of rugby, and of course Peter Weightman picked up a hat trick of tries.
“Going forwards we will look to build from this performance and learn to enforce our game onto opponents. I would also like to thank all the people who helped ensure that this game went ahead after the pitches at our ground were deemed unfit to play in the morning.
“This support is often unrecognised, and we are extremely grateful to have these amazing people who are willing to put in the time to help, they are the heartbeat of any club.
On Saturday October 4, Keswick are away at Ambleside in Cumbria One, and in Regional Two North Keswick will face what should be a stern test against Morpeth.at Davidson Park with a 3pm kick-off.
