Carlisle Rugby Club couldn’t have wished for a better start to life in North Premier with an away win against a team promoted with them last season.

While the city side won North One West, their hosts, Morpeth, had been successful in North One East.

Their meeting on Saturday to open the league season wasn’t as close as people might have expected.

Carlisle won 34-12, recording a deserved victory after conceding an early try to go 7-0 behind, but by half-time, had got themselves 12-7 in front with tries by Joe Anderson and Yousef Abdul-Sahib.

The second half saw the home side’s discipline begin to fail and the resulting penalties gave the visitors significant territorial advantage.

Josh Holmes, Ben Purdham, Tom Graham and James Telford scored second-half tries which pulled them well clear, with Morpeth only scoring their second try in the losing stages.

It was a very encouraging start for Carlisle at the higher level and they will be looking to add to that success tomorrow when they host an Ilkley side, beaten 39-7 at home by Harrogate last Saturday.

Penrith also got off the mark in North One West with a promising 43-22 home win over Firwood Waterloo, although it was probably not as convincing as the score suggests.

In fact, it was 15-10 to the visitors at the break after Penrith had gone 10-0 ahead in as many minutes, with a try by Jay Rossi, plus conversion and penalty from Matt Allinson.

The second period was a completely different affair, though, as the home side eventually got their act together and the visitors began to tire.

They got back in front with a penalty try and then scored further tries through debutant Brook Birley (2), Rossi and George Graham.

Penrith now face a relatively short trip to Keswick for their second game after their hosts made a disastrous start when they were overpowered 69-3 at Stockport.

Injuries from the previous game against Cockermouth and non-availability meant Keswick were without six regular first-team players, and the handicap proved too much against a much bigger Stockport team.

It was 36-3 at half-time and finished 69-3, with Lewis Plackett's first-half penalty Keswick’s only reward for a torrid afternoon.

But chairman Trevor Keough was relatively upbeat afterwards, saying there were many positives to be taken out of the game.

"The whole squad will now realise the level of preparation and effort that is needed to be able to compete at this higher level. A number of players performed heroically in defence," he said.

"In particular, Carrick Wharmby in the forwards and Harry Vaillant in the backs, supported by George Holme, put in some very good tackling.

"The whole team showed a really good spirit and never gave up and played right to the last minute."

In North Two West, Aspatria’s efforts to get off to a winning start at Bower Park were foiled by Aspull, who won 31-30 thanks to a successful penalty from the last kick of the game.

In a pulsating game of high-quality rugby, the lead changed hands on several occasions, but Aspull were good value for the victory and Aspatria had to settle for two bonus points.