Rugby union: Cumbria League

Last updated 16:03, Thursday, 10 April 2008

RUGBY UNION: Cumbria League

Sponsor: Gary Eilbeck, centre, presents the shirt to Moresby RUFC representatives Jimmy Cleaver and Steven Kellett

WHITEHAVEN ended a sequence of four straight defeats when they beat Workington Steelers 24-10 at the Ellis Sports Ground.

Whitehaven led 24-3 at the break but they didn’t open the scoring until the 24th minute when centre Matthew Giddens raced over under the posts for Stephen McConnell to convert.

That was followed by the best try of the game when Whitehaven took a quick tap five metres off their own line.

Wayne Dixon, Gary Wroe and Giddens were involved in a sweeping move before Mitchell Dixon finished off with the try.

Giddens put in Chris Flynn for the third try and then after some clever play by Dixon, Wroe went 50 yards to score the fourth and this one was converted by McConnell.

Johnny Howarth, whose kicking was excellent for the Steelers, pegged back three points from a penalty.

Whitehaven could only manage a penalty in the second-half from McConnell.

Workington were rewarded for a spirited effort in the second period when Ben Lanighan charged through three tackles to score under the posts. Howarth converted.

Keswick just need five points from their last four games to be mathematically certain of landing the Cumbria League title.

Their latest win came against Wigton Wanderers when they won handsomely 57-0 which gives them a plus points differential of 670 – nearly 250 better than their nearest rivals Netherhall.

Egremont got the better of their Copeland neighbours Gosforth Greengarth at Bleach Green.

It was tight in the first-half when two Jude Barton penalties against one from Sean Madden edged the home side ahead at 6-3.

Egremont increased their lead with a well-taken try by Mike Burrow which Barton converted. Just to make sure, Jack Kelly put over a drop goal for a 16-3 win.

Cockermouth had the worst possible start to the game at Moresby when scrum-half Mike Shaw had to retire through injury after only two minutes.

But substitute Johnny Taylor had an immediate impact when he released the ball quickly from a ruck to set centre Matthew Woodcock away on a pulsating run deep into the Moresby 22.

After beating several would-be tacklers, the defending full back Gary Johnston was not to be foiled and he made a superb tackle to bring the attack to an end.

A scrum followed and pressure on the home scrum half gave Ross Maguire the chance to score a well taken try near the posts. Andrew Skillen knocked over the conversion.

Cockermouth continued to take the game to Moresby, and good long defensive kicks were followed up well by wingers Mathew Paton and Jamie Ward. It put the Moresby back three under pressure and made it difficult for them to get in quality clearance kicks.

But Cockermouth didn’t have things all their own way and a powerful Moresby pack continually disrupted Cockermouth’s set piece play, restricting quality ball to a minimum.

After 36 minutes, following a cleanly taken lineout, Stuart Moore emerged from the back of the ensuing maul to score for a 12-0 lead.

With seconds of the half remaining, Moresby scored in the corner through Dean Finley. A brilliant touch line conversion by Gary Haile got Moresby back to 12-7 with the last kick of the half.

Andrew Skillen kicked a penalty to give Cockermouth an eight point advantage, but Moresby came back and, after a series of penalties which they attempted to run, they settled on taking a three pointer but lost 15-10.

Fixtures for Saturday, March 22

Cockermouth v Whitehaven, Creighton v Netherhall, Gosforth Greengarth v Wigton Wanderers, Keswick v Millom. Games kick-off at 3pm.