After last weekend's home defeat to Durham, Keswick earned a much needed bonus point win at Sunderland which pushed Keswick back up to sixth sport in Regional 2 North.

Keswick opened the scoring with an unconverted try from Dan Craghill and extended that lead with a try from Peter Weightman converted by Dan Woodcock to lead 0-12. Sunderland hit back with Ben Hutchinson touching down and Leon Ryan converting. Keswick then extended their lead with a try from a driving maul with Matty Atkinson touching down, and another conversion from Woodcock made it 7-19, but the game was well balanced and Sunderland again closed the game with a try from Dean Edmondson for 12-19 at half time.

Sunderland scored on the re-start with a try from Ethan Sutcliffe and another Ryan conversion for 19-19, and then took the lead with a Farai Chikumbirkie try again converted by Ryan for a 26-19 lead. This was a very entertaining match but Sunderland smiles didn't last long as Keswick then scored four unanswered tries from Danny Price who joined a maul to assist the forwards and got the ball over for 26-26 with the Woodcock conversion, then Garry Holmes touched down from another maul, Ryan Weir was next over and there was a final try Jamie Wilson who benefitted from a Weightman kick forwards which was fumbled by the Sunderland defence with Wilson more than happy to collect and touch down. With two more conversions from Woodcock the final score line was 26-45 to Keswick.

After the match Head Coach Garry Holmes said " Once again our set piece performed well, and the work rate across the park was excellent and we ran the legs off a good Sunderland side. At 26–26 the game was in the balance, but a terrific defensive effort turned the tide in our favour. Once we built momentum, we were unstoppable in the closing stages. I'm delighted with the attitude this week. We spoke all week about the Keswick Way, working hard for one another, whatever the role, and the lads delivered exactly that. Now we build on these foundations. Next week we're at home to Guisborough - let's keep this standard high. Well done, everyone!"

In other results Consett and Morpeth drew 45-45, Durham fell to a close 24-27 home loss to West Hartlepool, Penrith defeated Guisborough 28-26, bottom side Ryton lost out 17-26 to top club Percy Park and Upper Eden's excellent start to the season continued with a 26-24 win over Novocastrains putting them into second sport in the table. Keswick face Guisborough at home on Saturday at Davidson Park.

Image courtesy of Andrew Nelson