Hensingham are living up to the pre-season prediction they were favourites for the new Regional Cumbria Conference League title.
Four wins in a row have shot them to the top but a strong challenge is emerging from the south of the county as Millom, Barrow Island and Dalton gather a head of steam.
Hensingham were 40-24 winners at Hindpool but it was tight at half time after a late try from Rylan Templeton pushed the West Cumbrians into a 16-6 lead at the break.
Earlier man of the match Fletcher Holgate and Miller Dalton had scored tries, both converted by Dylan Bragg for Hensingham.
It was the Holgate show after the break as he added to his earlier try with a second half hat-trick with Lucas Roper also getting in on the act. Bragg added four conversions.
Hindpool stayed competitive and scored three converted tries themselves in the second half and considered it a brave effort against a good Hensingham side. Paul Rickleton was the Tigers man of the match.
You can listen below to what Andrew Smith, the Hensingham coach thought of the performance:
Millom were the day’s top scorers against a Seaton Rangers side cruelly robbed of 13 players through injury at this early stage of the season.
It finished 78-6 to the Woollybacks who had led 34-0 at half-time with tries from dual registration Josh Blinkhorn, Ollie Dilks, Ricky Donoghue, Jackson Evans and the returning Rio McQuistan. Five were converted by Evans.
In the second half, Blinkhorn completed his hat-trick and there were further touchdowns from Dom O’Brien (2), Tom Askew (2), Hadley Thompson, Stevie Watson and Donoghue with six more conversions by Evans.
Brandon Walker scored Seaton’s try early in the second half and Kieron Robinson converted.
But it was a tough day at the office for Neil Frazer’s side, especially as they had to face a near gale force wind in the first half.
Frazer said: “The lads dug in but made too many errors to gift Millom possession which helped them establish a 34-0 lead by half-time.
“We scored first in the second half but after that never really had the ball and they kept scoring on our edges.
“Hopefully we will have more availability for our next fixture as we only had 19 players available for games on Saturday and had to pull out of the A team game.”
You can hear below what Brad Crellin, the Millom coach, thought of the performance:
Dalton earned high praise from beaten Maryport coach Mark Foster after their 48-18 victory in West Cumbria.
Foster said: “I was impressed by Dalton who were very solid all round. They completed high, the hooker controlled the game in a solid pack.
“They had a very dangerous full-back and Tom Farren at centre was so clinical in the way he finished his six tries.
“I don’t think they dropped a ball until around 50 minutes.
“All round it was a bad day at the office for us but we will regroup, work hard in training and be ready to go again after Easter.”
Danny Dryden, Luke Baker and Attlee Skillen scored the Maryport tries with Lewis Moore kicking three goals.
Dalton coach Paul Armstrong said: “We have obviously had some good results to start the season, with wins over Millom and Barrow Island but we weren’t sure what to expect from Maryport who had a couple of wins behind them and ran Hensingham close the previous week.
“We had talked before the game about doing the basics well – good competition, field position and ball possession and thankfully we executed exceptionally well on the day.
“Defensively we made a really strong start, keeping Maryport trapped in their own half for the first few opening sets and built some good pressure which saw us crash over early through Tom Farren.
“With more strong defence across the field and good end of set kicking from our half-backs we frustrated Maryport and some ill-discipline for backchat to the referee saw possession turned over to us on a couple of occasions in good areas where we capitalised.
“We scored further tries from hooker Joe Crarey and two more from Farren for a first-half hat-trick so went in at the break 24-0 to the good.
“We expected Maryport to rally in the second half but a half-break from our full-back straight from kick-off with good support saw Farren slice through for his fourth try.
“Maryport dug in and got their reward after a knock-on from us in our own half led to a couple of well-worked tries.
“We then had to make a few forced changes with injuries and lost some rhythm which Maryport used to their advantage, scoring a walk-on from close range.
“But we settled back into our game plan and increased our lead with further tries from Crarey and Farren.
“A smart play and off-load down the blind side saw Niall Maudsley sneak in at the corner before some excellent link-up play between our half-backs Armstrong and Gordon led to Farren crashing over again for his sixth try.”
Barrow Island were also in good form as they scored a good 31-12 win at Ellenborough, rivals last season in the old National Conference Division Two.
Hayden Holmes and Johnny Goulding scored the Ellenborough tries, both converted by Brett Stevenson, with Jordan Ostle as man of the match.
The after-match verdict from Elbra was: “Barrow Island were the better team for the 80 minutes and congratulations on the victory.”
Ellis Archer, on dual registration from Barrow Raiders, was voted man of the match for the Islanders by the home side. He scored 15 of the points with a try, five goals and a field goal.
The other tries were scored by Max Anderson-Moore, Lucas Anderson-Moore, Trent Ruddy and Sonny Dutton.
Not to be outdone, Distington won again, with another impressive performance on the road, this time at Ulverston where they won 32-14.
Jack Penrice, James Motum, Kieran Worthington, Scott Rooke, Kelvin Lynch and Deaton Askew with Jaiden Hewer kicking four goals.
Rob Pike, Richard Rowlinson and Isaac Tizzard scored the Ulverston tries with Max Nisbet landing a goal.
You can hear below what Ryan Hodgson, the Distington coach thought of the game:
