Morpeth 12 Keswick 13

Keswick started well and took advantage of Morpeth’s early mistakes maintaining good field position and were rewarded after 5 minutes with a well taken Kieran Mewse penalty from 35 metres out.

Morpeth then came into the game and only strong Keswick defending kept them out holding them up over the Keswick line. Morpeth continued to exert with their vastly experienced pack boasting 2 British Police props being resolutely held by the Keswick pack.

A Keswick lineout on the Morpeth 5m was lost but the kick out of defence was expertly taken by Dan Craghill linking with Olly Macpherson and 2nd row Marky Trow who‘s expertly timed pass set Ryan Weir free for a well taken try. A tricky conversion wide out was slotted by Mewse to take the score to 10 0 to Keswick.

Morpeth battled back and the Keswick cause was further dented when captain George Holme was sin binned for an off the ball tackle. During this period Morpeth hit back with a well worked cross field kick collected for them to score in the corner, conversion missed 10 5 to Keswick as the half closed.

Keswick hung on with 14 men and when restored to a full complement again transitioned out of defence very well to force a penalty. Mewse had no hesitation to strike it home from 43 metres, 13 5 to Keswick.

Morpeth responded as expected and immediately intense pressure produced a score through the forwards under the posts, converted to make the score 13 12 to Keswick.

With 20 minutes to go the game was really well matched, Keswick made some changes introducing Glen Weightman for his 1st team debut. A fantastic moment for the club and the Weightman family as his class and experience immediately shone.

Keswick didn’t hang on they drove forward trying to close the game, but Morpeth showed why they pushed Penrith hard for the league title last season. Excellent defence particularly by Craghill and Macpherson held the Keswick line and after a tense last 5 minutes Keswick took the victory.

A well deserved result by a squad who really came together to take the win.