One of the great sides in Wigton’s history will be re-united tomorrow ahead of the crunch game at Lowmoor Road against promotion-chasing De La Salle.

It will be 20 years almost to the day since the Wigton 1st XV squad beat Otley, who were in the old Division Three at the time, to make it to the fifth round of the Pilkington Cup.

Ex-players are coming from far and wide to spend the day at the Lowmoor Road club to celebrate and reminisce over this famous cup run.

Wigton had opened the competition with a 35-17 win in the Midlands at Camp Hill and followed-up by beating Manchester away 31-19. They were on the road in the third round as well, scoring a 30-22 win at Bridlington.

The only home draw was against Otley on November 23, 1996 when Wigton came up with an outstanding performance to win 16-11. Tane Manihera scored their only try while Trevor Richardson slotted the conversion and three penalties.

Their interest in the Pilkington Cup ended in the fifth round when they lost 49-6 at Moseley.

Leicester beat Sale 9-3 in the final that season to lift the trophy at Twickenham thanks to three penalties by Joel Stransky.

Wigton won the Cumbria Cup that season as consolation, while several members of the team were involved in Cumbria’s triumph against Somerset at Twickenham.

Included in the winning squad against Otley was Joe Marrs, whose nephew Robert Marrs is expected to return to the Wigton squad for tomorrow’s clash with joint third-in-the-table De La Salle.

Club captain David Hanabury also returns from injury as Wigton look to make a charge for a promotion play-off place over the second-half of the season.

They are currently not in the top half of the table and are 13 points behind leaders Carlisle but do have a game in hand, a home clash with second-top Bolton.

Second place, at this time last week, was held by Aspatria but they now share third with De La Salle after a disappointing 29-17 home defeat by leaders Carlisle.

Tomorrow Aspatria are on a recovery mission when they travel to Workington who are fighting tooth and nail to escape the clutches of the bottom three.

The wide open spaces of the Ellis will suit Aspatria’s speedy backs but the Zebras are strong up front – an area of concern for the Black Reds in their defeat by Carlisle.

Silloth stayed bottom of the table after losing 48-14 at much-improved Hawcoat Park.

Mark Orchard’s men have a massive home game tomorrow – a must win showdown for both teams as they host Upper Eden, who are currently third bottom in the final relegation place.

Up in North One West, St Benedict’s will be keen to get back into action after their home game with Birkenhead Park was postponed because of the weather’s influence on the pitch.

But they resume with a toughie. Birkenhead Park were lying second ahead of the postponement, while tomorrow’s hosts Wilmslow are third with only two defeats all season.

The one bright spot from the postponement is it has given a few more players longer to recover from their injuries.

Top game in the Cumbria League tomorrow is Cockermouth v Whitehaven – top versus third.

Whitehaven are five points adrift but do have a game in hand.

Keswick, the third team with genuine title prospects, travel to St. Benedict’s Ravens, while fourth-placed Egremont have a tasty west Cumbrian derby at home to Moresby.