Penrith badly need a win to halt a freefall down Regional 2 North East and the prospect of a relegation battle in the second half of the season.
The injury problems at the Winters Park club have been well documented, and the fact they have used 48 players so far tells its own story.
On one week alone they had over 30 club players unavailable – not all injured – but certainly quite a lot of them who have continued to struggle for fitness.
After such a bright start to the season it has been all the more frustrating to see them drop down the table and they are now fourth bottom of the table, although still six points clear of Sandal who are 10th.
On Saturday they travel to Harrogate who have climbed the table as Penrith have gone the other way and currently find themselves in second place.
Last week they won 42-31 at Sandal while Penrith were beaten 45-15 at home by Blaydon.
Kendal shared the spoils with Driffield last week, playing out a 24-24 draw but needing a dramatic recovery to pull level.
After 44 minutes they trailed 18-3 and going into the last 10 minutes they were still behind 24-10.
In the end late tries from Barney Coxon and Ollie Rose, both converted by Evan Moir got them the draw. His second successful kick brought the game to an end, so after being beaten in the last minute a week earlier, it was some compensation to get a draw in the last minute for themselves.
They travel to fourth-placed Ilkley on Saturday, looking to take on a side who were beaten at home last week by Alnwick 21-15.
In Regional 2 North Upper Eden are now Cumbria’s best-placed side after they beat Aspatria 37-12 at Pennine Park to move fifth.
Keswick had been second for a while but a string of reversals have seen them drop to seventh.
Upper Eden travel to Morpeth on Saturday to tackle a side who are four places and nine points behind them in the table.
Against Aspatria, Eden had led 15-7 after a hard-fought first-half in which they took an early lead with a penalty from Ollie Bennett.
The Black Reds took the lead after nine minutes with a try from Dan Weir which was converted by Ryan Scott.
Despite a yellow card for fly-half Neldus Kruger, the home side came back to lead by half-time with tries by winger Luc Mouton and centre Josh Alderson, one of them converted by Bennett.
In the third quarter of the game after half-time Bennet kicked a penalty and then converted a second try from Alderson before Chris Graham gave Aspatria some hope with an unconverted try.
But Upper Eden underlined their superiority with two more tries before the end from scrum-half Aiden Muller and Kruger, both converted by Bennett.
That defeat leaves Aspatria in deep trouble next to bottom and facing a stern test on Saturday with a Cumbrian derby at Keswick.
The Lakes side will be desperate to halt their slide down the table, and with Aspatria heading for a relegation scrap over the second-half of the season, a lot is resting on this result. Martin Maughan will be the man in the middle.
Wigton remain rooted to the bottom and still looking for their first win when they travel to Guisborough who seem to have improved from last season and have won (5) as many games as they have lost.
In Counties 1 Cumbria teams will be playing their final games of the year before the Christmas/New Year break.
Carlisle bounced back from their first defeat of the season at Whitehaven, by beating St Benedict’s 38-7.
With Hawcoat Park held by Egremont it meant the Warwick Road side edged back to the top of the table by two points over the Barrow team.
So all is set for a cracking game in the south of the county as Hawcoat Park entertain their Carlisle rivals.
Man of the match Mike Lightfoot earned Hawcoat Park a 13-13 draw at Egremont with a penalty five minutes from the end.
They had earlier lost a 10-0 lead and had been reduced to 14 men when young second row forward Will Langley was shown a straight red card for foul play.
Harry Higgins and Rory Sayle had scored the tries for the visitors who looked on course for straight win number nine until a fine Egremont fightback.
In their game with Benny’s, the Carlisle tries were scored by James Kidd (2), Lloyd Clark (2), Jake Whittaker and Alfie Batty. Vince Lung converted four.
Martin Denvir has been appointed to take charge of the top of the table battle while the other big game sees Whitehaven attempt to follow-up their win over Carlisle by beating third ion the table Kirkby Lonsdale at the Playground. Simon Barker will referee.
Other games in Counties 1 Cumbria are: Workington v Millom (Mike Firby); Ambleside v Cockermouth (Paddy Loughnan); St Benedict’s v Keswick 2nds (Jonny Watson); Windermere v Egremont (Cieran Trainor); Creighton v Penrith 2nds (Danny Airey).
The week-end actually gets underway on Friday night at Winters Park where Penrith take on the Cockermouth/Keswick Ospreys in the North Colts Typhoon League with Craig Price officiating.
Three Women’s League games to note on Sunday – Kendal Ladies v Manchester Women (Stewart Mounsey); Carlisle Ladies v Workington Finches (Simon Barker); Upper Eden Ladies v Redcar Women (Joseph Ranford).
