Penrith have slipped to fourth bottom in Regional 1 North East after a drastic run of heavy defeats.
A withering list of injuries have severely hampered their chances, and during their 88-7 defeat at Harrogate last Saturday the number of players used this season moved on to 49.
The coaching team is desperate for some good news on the injury front but some of the absentees appear to be long-term.
They will welcome a home game on Saturday as they sign off for the seasonal break and have mid-table Driffield as their visitors.
They are three places and 11 points behind the Yorkshire club who enjoyed a good 35-10 home win over Middlesbrough last week.
Kendal, two places and a point above Penrith, will be looking to end the year with a convincing win as they entertain bottom side York who have only won once in 12 games.
Dan Bowman’s men put up a decent effort at fourth in the table Ilkley last week before they lost 33-12.
A week earlier they had staged a splendid late recovery to draw 24-24 at home to Driffield, a result and report that Penrith will have studied closely.
In Regional Two North bottom side Wigton had their best result when they were just edged out 19-18 at Guisborough.
That should give them encouragement in what has been a tough baptism after their promotion from Counties 1 Cumbria.
It will have put them in good heart for their final game of the year, a Cumbrian derby at home to Keswick.
The Lakesiders had a superb start to the season, on the tails of the leaders Northern, until a sequence of disappointing results, culminating in a narrow derby loss to Aspatria last week, has dropped them to sixth.
Martin Denvir is the man with the whistle at Lowmoor Road.
Upper Eden remain the best-placed Cumbrian side in the table, sitting fourth after last week’s 24-12 defeat at Morpeth.
They are back at Pennine Park on Saturday with a visit from Consett, who are enjoying a much better season in second spot. Cieran Trainor is the referee.
Aspatria came out on top of their derby clash with Keswick and are back at Bower Park to finish the year, with Morpeth as their visitors.
They have had some good, tight clashes with Morpeth in recent years and another close affair is expected this time with Jonny Watson the man in the middle.
The Counties 1 Cumbria fixtures ended for the year last week and don’t resume until January 10.
The top-of-the-table clash last week saw Hawcoat Park beat Carlisle 18-6 to reclaim the leadership, but only by a point.
Kirkby Lonsdale were 30-10 winners at Whitehaven and are third, just two behind Hawcoat Park and one in arrears of Carlisle.
Cockermouth complete the top four but they had to work hard for their 25-17 win at revitalised Ambleside.
Other scores were: Creighton 20, Penrith 2nds 22; St Benedict’s 24, Keswick 2nds 12; Windermere 20, Egremont 34; Workington 40, Millom 12.
