Carlisle Rugby Club are riding high after an impressive start to the new North One West campaign which has made their rivals sit-up and take notice.

After piling up 50 points in the opening fixture at De La Salle, the city side showed their potential with a 31-5 win over local rivals and neighbours Penrith.

That also served as a marker for the Cumbria Cup semi-final as the two sides are due to meet at Warwick Road on Saturday, November 10.

But league rugby dominates until then and new coach Matt Shields will be keen for his side to maintain the form they have shown so far.

Highly regarded for their strength and power in the forwards, Carlisle have new ammunition in the backs this season which has increased the all-round potential of the side.

Two of them, full-back Grant Connon and centre Chris Auld, didn’t get on the score-sheet but they helped create three of the five tries.

Making the touchdowns were Gregory Baines (2), man-of-the-match James Telford (2) and Dan Holmes with Max Connon landing three conversions.

Tomorrow, they fly to the Isle of Man to take on Douglas who started with a hard-fought 10-3 home win over Blackburn before their game at Stockport last week was postponed. Apparently, their plane developed engine problems and they were unable to fly over.

Carlisle won’t want similar aeronautical issues tomorrow but have planned ahead with the match in mind.

In order to allow plenty of time for the squad to finish the match and socialise afterwards with Douglas, and leave time to get to Ronaldsway Airport to catch the return flight, their hosts have agreed to move the kick-off time forward to 2pm.

But what of Penrith? It’s quite some time since they lost the first two matches of the season but that’s exactly what they are facing up to ahead of tomorrow’s third test, a home game with Manchester.

Coach Dave Preston has already issued warnings over the vulnerability of the defence and, after conceding 81 points in the opening two fixtures, plenty of work on that aspect of team play will have gone on during the week.

They only managed one try against a dominant Carlisle side, although they did have their moments in a tight first half.

But the game had virtually gone by the time Jon Fell went in for their only score of the game.

Penrith are having to patch together a side week by week, especially in the forwards, and although they managed to paper over the cracks in a competitive first half, their lack of back five forwards caught up with them in the second half.

Manchester started the season with a 31-20 defeat at Firwood Waterloo but saw off De La Salle at home last week. If Penrith lose this one, the alarm bells will certainly be ringing.

The new-look Cumbria League started at the weekend and there was a shock for the pre-season favourites Aspatria who went down 20-17 at Cockermouth.

Afterwards, Cockermouth coach Chris Wright said: “Going into the opening game of the season, the main objective was to show our worth into level 7 rugby.

"The boys certainly responded in style, heart and determination to succeed.”

The new Cumbria League format initially had its detractors but clubs do seem to be arming to the prospect of very competitive games – with limited travelling.

Aspatria posted three tries of their own through Matthew Atkinson (2) and Grant Bethwaite but the accurate goal kicking of Ed Gate decided the contest in favour of the home team, thwarting a late flourish by the visitors.

Wigton started impressively with a 53-24 win at Hawcoat Park which has been a bogey ground for the Greens in recent years.

Keswick opened at home to Whitehaven and went top of the first league table with a 48-15 victory.

They had led the North Lancs/Cumbria table for a number of weeks last season and will be determined to maintain their early advantage this time.

In the other Cumbria League game, Upper Eden beat St Benedict’s 19-12.

Cumbria Two results: Creighton 15, Egremont 43; Millom 17, Silloth 25; Windermere 34, Moresby 12; Workington 6, Carlisle Crusaders 14.