The Warwick road side were keen not to let the Kirkby Stephen side get as close to them as they did earlier in the season at Pennine Park, when Carlisle were pushed right to the end of the match.

Carlisle were switched on from the start and with a couple of early scrums demonstrated that the visitors would get no change in the battle between the packs. From a scrum in the Upper Eden 22, Carlisle took it against the head and pushed the visitors backwards towards their 5m line. With the drive halting, Fly half James Telford took a pass and darted for the line, but was just stopped short. However as the Upper Eden side were trying to organise themselves at the resulting ruck, scrum half Matty Roper cleverly used the Referee to blindside the Upper Eden defence for Carlisle’s first try, converted by Telford.

Any thoughts that this would be one-way traffic were quickly dispelled as the visitors played with a lot of intensity in the Carlisle half for the next 10mins and were justly rewarded with a try for their efforts as their fullback rounded the home defence for their first score which was duly converted.

Upper Eden continued to probe the Carlisle defence, although were often left exposed at the back. After a quarter of an hour as the visitors were pushing up, turnover ball was quickly threaded upfield behind the Upper Eden line by centre Jason Israel. With Fullback Robbie James fly hacking the ball further up the pitch, the Upper Eden fullback had to be quick to beat his opposite number to the ball in the Upper Eden dead ball area. It wasn’t long though before Carlisle got their noses in front when a penalty infringement at a scrum by the visitors on their 22m line was punished by Telford to make the score 10-7.

Carlisle’s second try came on the half hour mark as a ball fumbled at an Upper Eden throw-in was quickly seized by the Carlisle forwards, and quick ball across the backline put James over in the right corner, to increase the scoreline to 15-7.

James nearly scored his second moments later, when some deft interplay at speed by the backline down the left touchline put him into space. The covering tackle by the Upper Eden fullback was immense as he brought James down within inches of the tryline causing him to spill the ball.
In fact it was Upper Eden who got on the scoresheet next after a penalty infringement on the Carlisle 22 was converted to bring the score to 15-10 at half-time, with Carlisle losing a player to the bin as well.

Carlisle started the second half with a lot more purpose and began to dominate possession, although their set piece possession was not turning easily into points. It took them until the 52nd minute before a scrum on the visitors 5m line, allowed replacement no8 Josh Holmes to crash over for the third try.

The fourth try came on the hour mark, as Jason Israel cleverly threaded another ball behind the visitors defence, for his centre partner Dan Holmes to pick up and evade the covering defence, pushing the scoreline to 29-10, and securing the all important bonus point.
As the Kirkby Stephen side were beginning to tire, the Carlisle forwards kept hammering away at the visitors defence and tighthead prop Henry Furbank got just rewards for a strong performance in the front row, by being on the end of a pass from Telford to crash through the tiring defenders near the posts, giving the flyhalf the easiest of conversions.

There was just enough time for one last try at the end as Josh Holmes secured his second and Carlisle’s sixth try of the game to end the match leaving Carlisle worthy winners at 41-10.

The scoreline could have been higher as there were a number of unforced errors, although the conditions were bitterly cold, and there would have been plenty of numb hands out there. The second half was almost totally dominated by Carlisle, with the visitors rarely making any inroads into the Carlisle half. That said, Upper Eden put in a performance that at times made life difficult for the league leaders, before stamina and persistence paid off in the end for Carlisle.

Head Coach David Stout later commented “Despite the scoreline we made hard work of this game with too many mistakes and unforced errors for comfort. The standards we aspire to are high so won't be achieved overnight. Alongside some well worked tries there was further evidence of where we need to concentrate our training to ensure that we keep this season on track and avoid any complacency.
The depth of the squad will be very important now as injuries and the challenge for starting places grows. We have some good players who have come along way in a short time and deserve a lot of credit.
Another tough game at Wigton awaits.”

Captain Tom Graham further added “A game of too many errors. Upper Eden came to play some open rugby and disrupt ours, and the league position doesn't represent the quality of the opposition. We did enough to gain the 5 points and keep the pressure on the teams chasing us. The tries we did score when our attacking attributes clicked were some of the best at Warwick road . We will reflect and train hard this week to tighten up on our basic skills ahead of a big derby game".

The win maintains Carlisle’s position at the top, and the gap between rivals De La Salle to 11 points, with Aspatria lurking 1 point behind, as all sides recorded bonus point wins this weekend. With another crucial derby game to come against Wigton at Lowmoor road next Saturday, we can be sure of another tough game against our near neighbours, who will be looking to restore some pride after their defeat in our cup game last weekend. Carlisle meanwhile will be focusing on making sure that they don't give their promotion rivals any hope of catching them at the top of the league.

Make sure you are at Wigton next Saturday to support the side in their push for promotion, in what will be another testing encounter with the Green and Whites.