There's a feast of rugby union on show at Aspatria’s Bower Park on Sunday when the North of England Under-18s age group assessment takes place.

Many of the young men taking part will go on to play in rugby’s professional ranks, perhaps even for England.

The day is billed as a North Divisional Festival and player assessment, which takes the form of three inter-county matches.

As hosts, Cumbria kick-off proceedings with the first match against Northumberland, starting at 11am.

That’s followed by Lancashire v Durham (12.45pm) and Cheshire v Yorkshire (2.30pm).

The Bower Park bar will be open and food will be available all day.

Aspatria official Barney Clegg said: “I think it’s a great opportunity to see the up-and-coming stars of the future from the north of England.”

The Black Reds are in good heart on the field after a good 52-10 win over Bolton last week in the national competition, the Intermediate Cup.

The pre-game prediction was for a close encounter. This proved wide of the mark as the pace of the Black Reds back division ripped Bolton apart.

They are back at Bower Park tomorrow with a league visit from Hawcoat Park, who have surprised a few with their early performances in the League so far.

It could be tougher than expected as Hawcoat Park are sixth in the North Lancs Cumbria table, only three points behind the Black Reds who are fourth.

Not much doubt about the match of the day tomorrow, that’s at Warwick Road where Carlisle take on Wigton – a clash of two sides who are starting to emerge after a spell in the doldrums.

Carlisle are fifth on 21 points with Wigton two places and four points behind them, but with a game in hand.

Two sides in desperate need of victories meet at the Ellis Sports Ground, where Upper Eden will arrive to take-on hosts Workington.

The Kirkby Stephen side are third bottom, a place and four points better off than Silloth, with Workington cut adrift at the bottom.

Silloth, who have been competitive at home but off the pace on their travels, travel to LIttleborough who lost 22-12 at Carlisle last week.

In North One West, St Benedict’s will be looking to get back to winning ways when they travel to West Park St. Helens.

Their hosts have only won one game in six so far and are next to bottom of the table.

Matches in the Cumbria League tomorrow include: Carlisle Crusaders v Keswick; Cockermouh v Furness; St. Benedict’s Ravens v Egremont and Whitehaven v Moresby.