Creighton against Workington promised to be a tight affair in Counties 1 Cumbria.
The home side was looking for a first win while the Zebras had snatched their first win a week ago with a try in added time to beat Ambleside.
With a wet pitch and strong winds dictating play in the aftermath of Storm Amy, it finished 27-22 to Creighton.
Travelling with a depleted forward pack through injures and unavailability, the Zebras had to draft regular backs, James Taylor and Dean Jones, into the forwards.
However it was soon clear to see the Zebras weren’t there to just make up the numbers.
Within two minutes, they had looked after the ball well and made their way up the pitch to take an early lead with a try from scrum half Brandon Walker.
In tough kicking conditions against the wind, Walker missed with his conversation attempt.
Creighton were stung into a response and soon got onto the scoresheet themselves with a converted try in the 6th minute.
This was followed up by a penalty in the 17th minute, and then another try, this time unconverted, in the 24th minute.
Creighton were using the wind well, and were keeping the Zebras pinned back, but in the 28th minute, the Zebras managed to pull a try back through James Beck. Again, in difficult conditions Walker missed with the conversion attempt.
It was still 15-10 to Creighton at the break but the Zebras took heart from that tight scoreline having played competitively against the elements.
The second half started in a similar fashion to most of the first half, in that it was an arm wrestle between both 22’s.
It was the Zebras who had the first points scoring opportunity of the half, with a penalty shot in a difficult position, but Walker, with the tricky wind behind him was again unsuccessful.
On the hour, however, the Zebras got some reward for their hard work, with a try in the corner from John McCrickerd, who was impressive all afternoon.
With the sides level at 15-15 it was anyone’s game, but it was Creighton who took the initiative and scored a converted try under the post in the 63rd minute.
They followed up with another try, following some slack defence to make it 27-15 in the 68th minute, but the conversion was missed.
The Zebras didn’t give up though, and fresh from their last gasp victory a week earlier hadn’t given up hope of repeating the feat.
It looked a possibility, too as Jimmy Wagstaffe scored his 2nd try in two games peeling off the side of a ruck to go over close to the posts.
Walker converted and got the Zebras to within five points.
With only a couple of minutes left on the clock, it was always going to be difficult in the conditions to repeat the same magic, and whilst they tried continuously, they couldn’t break down the Crieghton defence late on, and the referee blew for time on what proved to be a really good competitive game of rugby.
Whilst disappointed with the loss, the Zebras will take heart from the two bonus points they picked up, and also from the overall performance of the team.
Notable mentions went to Tom Smith, James Taylor, Scott Faulkner and Chris Stringer who all put-in excellent shifts.
Both sides scored four tries each, with Creighton’s tries coming from centre Franny Dixon (2), and one apiece by stand-off Dean Lambert and second row Nathan Harmon.
The difference between the sides came from the boot of skipper Keanan Foster with two conversions and a penalty.
On Saturday Zebras welcome Windermere to the ESG (3.00pm kick off) while Creighton travel to Ambleside.
