RUGBY UNION By John Walsh

Last updated 11:07, Friday, 26 September 2008

After a winning start to the season last Saturday, Penrith make the trip to Halifax to face Old Crossleyans who also won their opening encounter 15-5 against Durham City.

Penrith travel with a largely unchanged side although props Andrew Dawson and Bob Wilson change places.

Wilson starts with Dawson on the bench in a rotation system to keep the front row men happy, which is never easy with as one of them always having to sit on the bench.

Scrum half Paul Newton is now fully fit and will make final selection difficult as Toby Slack made a good start to his season with a battling performance last week.

But it’s the kind of selection problem that new coach Stuart Connell won’t mind.

The only other question mark is over the fitness of two-try winger Darren Richardson who came off injured towards the end of the game, so a late decision will be taken Penrith will hope to hit the ground running as they cannot afford as slow a start as last week as they only got into top gear in the latter stages of the game.

They will need to impose themselves on the opposition away from home or risk losing the initiative and seeing the game taken away from them.

They beat Gateshead 39-12 at Winters Park but it was largely a disappointing performance, only playing in fits and starts.

Richardson (2), Ioan ) Lewis, Joe Nattrass, Steve Wood, Martin Armstrong and David Preston scored tries with Wood converting two.

Wigton got their season up and running with a 15-5 win at Oldham in North Lancs Cumbria but might have a better idea of their prospects after tomorrow’s home clash with Tyldesley.

The Lancashire club has been recruiting during the summer and are expected to be one of the leading sides this time round. They opened with a 20-6 home win over Workington - although two tries were scored late on. Wigton still have to finalise their line-up but head coach Malcolm Brown knows he will have to make at least one change as centre David Warwick is unavailable.

Looking back at the Oldham game Brown said: “It was a bit disappointing to go in at half-time trailing after dominating possession as we had done.

“But we responded well in the second period and got the two tries which won us the game.”

Richard Moffat and Dan Reed scored the Wigton tries with new full-back Andrew Logue converting one and adding a penalty.

Wigton have also beefed-up their coaching team with ex-Penrith development manager/coach Nigel Beaty joining the Lowmoor Road club to work alongside head coach Brown.

He has a special remit to oversee young player development - particularly in the 18 to 21 age group.

Brown said: “It’s good to have Nigel on board, particularly for his expertise in developing and improving the skills of the younger players. I think he achieved a lot at Penrith on that side and we look to him making similar progress with us.”

Last season Aldwinians and Keswick were two Leagues apart but a respective relegation and promotion has put them together this time round. They met on Saturday with Aldwinians coming out on top 31-6.

Keswick coach Alan Gray admitted it could have been a mis-match, and for part of the time it was, but he’s convinced his players will have learned from the experience.

“We are where we wanted to be and are going to give it our best shot, but we are going to enjoy the experience,” he said.

John Hine kicked two penalties for Keswick who will be hoping to get their first points on the board tomorrow when they host Burnley.

Creighton had an excellent win in the Senior Vase when they beat Winlaton Vulcans 31-24 at Sycamore Lane.

They led 28-14 at half-time with four tries through wingers Dan Greenslade and Simon Turner, full back Matt Dudley and evergreen prop Brett Ashbridge.

Greenslade added the extras.

The second half was a rather torrid affair when Winlaton became frustrated and resorted to a physical and at times, over-physical, game.

They scored a converted try and penalty to reduce the deficit to four points but another Greenslade penalty eased Creighton into the next round where they have an attractive home tie against Percy Park.

Wigton Wanderers are also through with a narrow 8-3 home win against county neighbours Workington Steelers.

Flanker Ashley Gosling, making his senior debut after moving up from the Colts, scored the Wigton try while Johnny Scott put over a penalty.

Both revert to Cumbria League matches tomorrow - Creighton at Aspatria Eagles and Wigton Wanderers at Millom.