Under 10 were runners uo in the Cockermouth Tournament
Under 12 reached the quarter finals of the Tynedale Festival
Under 17’s lost their National Semi Final 32-10 against a very good Derby side. The lads played well but were outsized and Derby’s ability to keep ball alive made defence very hard they have done superbly to get this far in the competition and the improvement in this team over the last 12 months is outstanding and bodes well for next season if they can move up another notch.
Following on from last year when our U17’s made the National Finals this years U17’s are on the trail as well
Today they beat Darlington Mowden Park to become the Northern Champions and now progress to the National Semi Final where they will play Derby who won the Midlands Division - the semi final game is played on neutral ground and this year that means a trip to Maccelsfield - if they win the semi then Keswick will again make the National Final which will be played at Worcester
A 31 - 16 home victory against Cockermouth means only 1 game away from an unbeaten season. The 31 points scored today also means we have now passed the 800 point mark
not the best of game although the last try of the first half was superb being scored from phase 1 ball from a lineout. A few injuries didnt help - also the Sportsman Dinner on Friday that went onto till 3.30 am may have contributed !
DONT FORGET - The U17 Northern Final vs Darlington Mowden Park KO 2.00 tommorrow
Next week 1st’s play their last Home game against Cockermouth also on the Sunday its the U17’s playing the Northern Final against Darlington Mowden Park for a place in the National Semi Final - can we reach the finals 2 years running ??
Anyway with no rugby to watch I’ve (sadly) spent half an hour trawling the record books as clearly this is an exeptional season - of course stats are stats - people will say - they play less games, they get more points for tries etc - but below are the key previous record years and I’ll let you decide just how good a season it has been
If the lads want some motivation for the next couple of games - if they concede less than 6 points that will be the lowest points ever conceded - and of course DONT LOSE !!
if you want more details on previous archive match data follow the link on the home page to the archive web site where you can wallow in stats to your hearts content - anyway red wine calling - so enjoy discussing the stats below
by my calculations that gives us the league title as well
next game is not until Saturday week when it will be at home to Cockermouth so a good excuse to come and congratulate the team and the coach
this weekend the club makes its annual pilgramage north of the border to Castophine - so speak quietly if you see them next week - they will be nursing sore heads !
Keswick could only manage a tight 6-6 draw at home to Millom
With two kickable penalties conceeded in the last few minutes it could easily have been a win for Millom but they failed to convert.
What happened - well many of us are scratching our heads - we didnt appear to be up for it until well into the 2nd half - our scrum went backwards and we got no decent ball as a result - in contact we got turned over too often - were the backs too deep ? should we have attempted a couple of very long penalties early in the 2nd half - did the large numbers of player coming and going over the last 3 weeks unsettle us ?
all of the above led to a below par result - full credit to Millom they are a good side with a decent pack and an inside centre who can straighten and break tackles very effectively.
Overall you have to say it was a lucky escape to come away with a draw.
Not a game to be remebered very stop start and summed up by a 3 minute delay after both match balls were lost behind the gun club !
It will need to be a much move motivated team for next weeks crunch away game at Netherall