Carlisle Rugby Club travel to Northwich tomorrow as clear leaders of North One West, three points ahead of Blackburn, their nearest challengers.

Northwich are fourth bottom, only two points clear of the final relegation place, so on paper, it looks a sound chance for the city side to continue their good run.

But Northwich are traditionally hard to beat at home, having already drawn 32-32 this season with second-placed Blackburn.

They have also lost at home, though, 20-10 to Warrington who lost 25-20 at Carlisle on Saturday.

Those are the only two home fixtures Northwich have played in the opening six games.

Northwich’s only win came in the first game of the season when they were successful 21-13 at Anselmians who have proved to be one of the real strugglers, joint bottom with De La Salle, neither of whom have eked out a win.

Warrington were doughty opponents at Warwick Road and, although it wasn’t the most convincing of performances by Carlisle, it was another win to maintain their position at the top of the league.

Warrington will feel they should have got closer, yet the Warwick Road side did well to recover from such a poor start, gifting 13 points to the visitors from a lack of discipline and concentration.

Warrington certainly made life difficult for Carlisle, and going home with a losing bonus point, was small consolation for all their efforts in fulfilling the fixture after they were left without coach transport and had to travel by train.

Having fallen 13-0 behind, the city side were level by the break with a penalty try and two penalties from Jason Israel.

A try from James Telford on 55 minutes put them in front for the first time and skipper Henry Wainwright fired over soon after for their third try.

Warrington scored a late try under the posts, which surprisingly went unconverted, but Carlisle had enough resolve to see out the closing stages.

Penrith seemed to have found their mojo again after a 17-5 win over Birkenhead Park, their best performance of the season.

That third victory in six starts lifted them into the top half of the table, but they have nine points to make-up on leaders Carlisle.

There were plenty of positives for coach Dave Preston, particularly the return of Mike Stephens after over a season’s absence to bolster the side’s tenacity.

The second half saw the introduction of Kiwi Ryan Lee into the front row. He is new to the club, having only flown into the country a few days earlier and he certainly laid down a marker.

It will be interesting to see if this improvement can be rolled forward into what will be a difficult trip to Douglas on the Isle of Man tomorrow.

Douglas are two places and three points ahead of the Cumbrians, and they will start fresh from a 24-7 win at bottom side De La Salle last weekend.

High-flying Birkenhead Park had arrived second in the league with only one loss to their name but had no answer for the majority of the game against a bullish Penrith side.

Preston had to patch his pack together once more but the introduction of Stephens, James Hogg and Tom Lindsay certainly upped the physicality of his forwards. They were up for a battle, against Birkenhead who are always a strong, big, well-drilled side.

An early unconverted try for the visitors did not dent the home side’s belief and they dominated the half, going in at the break 10-5 to the good thanks to Matt Allinson’s try, conversion and penalty.

Penrith dominated the second half.

A Brad Taylor try, converted off the touchline by Allinson, was the only score in the second half but it represented an important success for the Winters Park side.

In the Cumbria League, there was no change in the top four as leaders Keswick were held 10-10 at Aspatria, while the two teams in between – Wigton and Cockermouth – had home wins.

Aspatria needed a penalty from Jack Clegg two minutes from the end for their share of the spoils at Bower Park, in which, both sides enjoyed superiority when they had the wind at their backs.

The final score was a fair result though with both teams coping well in the difficult conditions and providing the spectators with an exciting game to watch.

Ollie McPherson and Mike Tait scored unconverted tries for Keswick in the first half with Clegg converting a try by Gary Harrison, before levelling-up the match with his late penalty.

Tomorrow there’s a real match of the day/top-of-the-table clash at Davidson Park when Keswick host second-placed Wigton. There are only two points between the two sides, so it should be a challenging contest for both.

Wigton were comfortable 36-17 winners against Whitehaven. Cockermouth were holding on at the end to beat St. Benedict’s 17-14.

Aspatria have to settle for fourth, six points behind the leaders, and they visit Upper Eden tomorrow. The Kirkby Stephen side were beaten by bottom side Hawcoat Park, going under 20-14.

Matches in Cumbria League Two include: Aspatria Eagles v Carlisle Crusaders; Moresby v League leaders Silloth; Wigton Wanderers v Creighton.