Leaders Keswick have lost their unbeaten record in the Cumbria League.

Cockermouth bounced back from their dip in form with a 12-5 home win over Keswick, the first time they have beaten them in four close encounters.

There was a strong wind blowing and, in the first half, Cockermouth opted to play into it, knowing they would need to play some decent rugby to get into the opposition’s territory.

It was Keswick who started the game the stronger and, with their usual excellent game management, soon found themselves in scoring opportunities.

Crucially the Cockermouth defence, which has been generally good all year, found another gear for this game and prevented any score.

After 15 minutes with possession turned over, Cockermouth launched an excellent counter attack with a clean line break from centre Peter Wood backed up by full-back John Irving and wing Jack Wilson.

Although Keswick managed to scramble and prevent the try, it gave Cockermouth the much-needed field position.

In their next possession, stand-off Ross McGuire set-up play well and then the back line called for the ball on a left-sided play, centre Wood kept his composure, straightened up the line of run and backed himself for the try-line, where an excellent stretch for the line resulted in a 5-0 lead.

Keswick responded well and tested the home defence again and, after 25 minutes, they got their just rewards with good hands to the left corner and centre Andy Muir used his strength to crash over.

Muir then attempted a long-range penalty, using the wind just before half time but it ended just short.

The second half was all about playing the territory game and pressuring the Keswick team into turn over ball. However, the wind dropped and Keswick dominated possession, playing the phases game and keeping the ball well.

Again similar to the first half, the Cockermouth defensive effort was not to drop, thanks to all the fitness work being undertaken by Luke Resson with the squad.

After 65 minutes, Cockermouth hit a purple patch and were awarded an attacking five-metre scrum.

The front five, who had been on fire all game, opted for the push-over try straight away. An excellent scrum soon had Keswick on the back foot and the referee had no choice but to award a penalty try, converted by Mark Watson.

The closing part of the game saw Keswick in possession and, with the home side losing discipline, three penalties in five minutes gave Keswick a big advantage.

The solid defence held strong and the final whistle from Martin Plummer, who had an excellent game, was sounded to the delight and celebrations of the Wasps.

The front-row was selected as Men of the Match, with debut prop Jack Gaskell representing them at the presentations.

Furness travelled up from Barrow to Bleach Green but the journey clearly had not affected them as they made by far the sharper start to what was always going to be a tight encounter.

The visitors eventually won 17-13 and took full advantage of some hesitant Egremont defending to go two tries ahead in the first ten minutes, leaving the home side playing catch up from the outset.

After their slow start, Egremont brightened up and they worked their way back into the match with a much-improved performance in the 20 minutes prior to half time.

This led to a hard-earned forwards’ try and a penalty from full-back Brad Jackson which left the score finely poised at the break with Furness ahead by just 10-8.

To the disappointment of the Egremont faithful, Furness returned to action after half time, again looking sharper than the home side and they soon extended their lead to 17-8 with a neatly executed backs move resulting in a converted try.

Thereafter, the pattern of the first half repeated itself, with Egremont coming back strongly once again and putting increasing pressure on the large but tiring visitors’ forwards.

This resulted in some desperate but careless defence from Furness, and with referee Alistair Jones quite correctly rigorously policing the high tackle, the visitors frequently lost players to the sin bin.

Egremont flanker Josh Graves took full advantage of the visitors’ numerical disarray to cross for a try to narrow the gap once again, but it unfortunately went unconverted, leaving Egremont pressing hard for the further try required to snatch the lead.

To their credit, Furness defended their lines very well to hold the home side at bay in a very tense final passage of play and forced a crucial turnover which they gleefully cleared to touch to bring the final whistle.

Keswick still lead by eight points over Whitehaven, who were 63-3 winners over St. Benedict’s Ravens on Saturday.

Haven have a game in hand over Keswick and two on Cockermouth, who are level on points.

Carlisle Crusaders got their third win of the season in a hard-fought game with Millom, emerging 20-15 winners.