Something had to give in the Cumbria Conference’s match of the day between two 100% sides.
It was Dalton who maintained their record with an impressive 44-18 home win over Hensingham.
Dalton coach Paul Armstrong said: “I was very, very pleased with the result as we knew going into the game we would have to be at our best against a tough Hensingham outfit.
“Our prep went really well throughout the week and thankfully we put an excellent performance in on the day although Hensingham made us work hard for it throughout the entire game.
“Straight from the whistle I thought both sides started with intent but Hensingham capitalised scoring a try within the first five minutes after an end of set kick was knocked on in our own 30 following good pressure from the Hensingham middles.
“We soon came back with our first score after great forward play from Jordan Jones and Tom Sharpe up the middle led to Harry Gordon, Ross Bird and Tom Farren linking up on the left edge to crash over in the corner.
“Half back Gordon then started to get a foothold in the game and began dictating play, being instrumental in some superb tries from Bird, Connor Grant and Sharpe as well as scoring one himself.
“Hensingham stayed in the grind though and despite some excellent defence from Ben Atkinson and Isaac Barber in the middle they scored their second just before half time after good work from Charlton and Thomson making the score 28-12 at the break.
“Knowing that Hensingham came back against Millom to score 28 unanswered points to win the game the previous week, we knew they would come hard from the restart and a Dalton knock on straight from a kick off gifted them possession in a dangerous area and led to a short range try to make it 28-18.
“We reacted really well from then on and some brilliant work from winger Callum Leach and Bird to manage the Hensingham kicking game and that soon saw us on the front foot again where we took our chances as they came with more good tries from back rower Floyd Tweddle and centre Farren who continued his scoring form bagging another hat trick on the day.”
Dalton’s MoM was back row Ben Atkinson closely followed by scrum half Harry Gordon with Jordan Thomson and Luke Charlton selected for Hensingham.
The Hensingham tries were scored by Lucas Roper, Luke Charlton and Dylan Cromwell.
You can hear below the views of Hensingham coach Andrew Smith:
The other outstanding game on the fixture list was the derby clash between Ellenborough and Maryport which finished all square at 28-28.
Maryport salvaged a point with a try from the last play of the game when a clever kick from scrum-half Lewis Moore enabled teenager Tyler Chilton to get over.
Moore landed a conversion from out wide on his wrong side to square the game.
They had never been in front throughout the game but the general consensus from both coaches was that a draw was a fair result in front of a big crowd.
The Maryport tries came from Ellis Nixon (2), Jack Shepherd, Attlee Skillen and Chilton. Man of the match Moore landed four goals.
The Ellenborough points came from a hat-trick of tries by Kai Gilhespy (3), Hayden Holmes and Kian Dempsey. Rocco Okesene kicked four goals.
You can hear below the thoughts of Elbra coach Paul Gorge:
Maryport’s Mark Foster gives his verdict below:
There was another close clash in the south of the county where Barrow Island got the better of their hosts Millom by 20-14.
It had been another disappointing second half by Millom after they had led 14-6 at half-time and when they were down to 12 men for the last 10 minutes Barrow Island cashed in.
It was a big team effort from the Islanders to come back in the second half, winning it with tries from Trent Ruddy (2) and man of the match Cameron Currie. Max Moore kicked three goals while Finn Dutton added a late penalty.
Millom’s tries were scored by Owen High, Jackson Evans and Rio McQuistan with one conversion from Evans.
Brad Crellin, the Millom coach reflects on the game below:
The other game saw Seaton Rangers pick up their second with a 56-6 home win against Ulverston.
It was a very good display by Seaton and when most of the players get a mention when consideration for man of the match it underlined what a good team performance it had been.
The ten tries were scored by Jack Morgan (2), Aiden Fryer (2), Charlie Ackerley (2), Connor McCrickard (2), Jaiden Tallentire and Kieran Robinson. The eight goals were kicked by Robinson.
Ulverston coach Marc Storey said: “It was a tough day at the office because we didn’t turn up and made things hard for ourselves by turning over possession.
“We have a week off now and chance to re-group and hopefully get some bodies back for the next game.”
Josh Rankin scored their try which was converted by Brad Williamson.
Neil Frazer, of Seaton gives his thoughts below:
