Carlisle Rugby Club have had extra time to chew over their heavy defeat at Kirkby Lonsdale because of Saturday’s postponement.

After a pitch inspection in the morning, it was considered unplayable because of the heavy overnight rain, and with the amount of water that had settled on the playing surface.

The match with Harrogate will now be played at Warwick Road on Saturday, November 30, with a 2.15pm kick-off. The Warwick Road club has also announced their Cumbria Cup game with Keswick, which had been fixed for November 2, has now been provisionally fixed for Friday, November 1, with a 7.30pm kick-off to avoid a clash with the World Cup Final.

But it should be back into North Premier action tomorrow when the city side travel to Sandal, boosted by a 30-14 win at Rossendale last Saturday.

That pushed them up to sixth in the table and was their second win from four games – they are a point and two places ahead of Carlisle, who have that one game in hand.

Matty Shields will have fully analysed what went wrong at Kirkby Lonsdale and will be preaching a more disciplined approach from his troops as they attempt to put things right in Yorkshire.

It’s been a dream start, meanwhile, for Penrith in North One West as they proudly lead the way by three points.

Of most significance is that three of those wins have been against teams in the four immediately behind them at the top. Saturday’s hard-earned 32-27 was against Wilmslow, the nearest team to them in the table and, by the end of play, were still in second place but trailing by three points.

Penrith had got the five points they were looking for at the start of the game, but some late slackness had allowed Wilmslow two bonus points they didn’t look likely to win right until their two tries in the closing stages.

The early season fixtures, however, have been very kind to the Cumbrians with three home games and the short trip to Keswick. A trip to Broughton Park comes up tomorrow and that will be a better test of their mettle.

Park currently lie fifth-bottom with two wins from their four games and, last Saturday, they went down 34-12 at Stockport.

Penrith couldn’t have had a much better start against previously unbeaten Wilmslow as they were ahead in the first minute with a try from Olly Guttridge.

Scott Lancaster scored the second try and, at half-time, Penrith had a 12-8 lead which was gradually improved by two tries from new flying machine Brook Birley. Fraser Nicholson kicked two penalties and three conversions.

It was all plain sailing for Penrith but not so much for Keswick who suffered their fourth straight defeat and, alongside Warrington, are pointless at the foot of the table.

They lost 36-0 at home to Douglas from the Isle of Man but, despite the score, this was a good Keswick performance with a depleted team. A good number of first-teamers were on a stag weekend in Prague.

They held out for long periods and were mainly let down by a seven-minute spell early in the second half. Strong in defence and showing promise in attack, there is no doubt that Keswick are learning fast and improving with experience.

Tomorrow, they travel to Vale of Lune, currently sitting mid-table with two wins from four games.

In North Two West, there’s a big game in prospect for Aspatria as they entertain early leaders Glossop who have won all four games so far.

Aspatria are sixth-bottom and 12 points behind the table-toppers, but will feel they should have won last Saturday’s encounter at Eccles when they went down 16-10.

Several personnel and positional changes did Aspatria no favours, yet the Black Reds were disappointed to travel back without a win that was theirs for the taking. With possession and territorial stats all in the plus column, Aspatria should have been able to close this game out. But statistics count for nothing if you cannot get across the line.

Aspatria’s handling mistakes contributed strongly to the 16-10 reversal but nothing should detract from a magnificent defensive performance from Eccles whose backs to the wall spirit, ultimately, frustrated the visitors. Jack Clegg scored all the Aspatria points from a try, conversion and penalty.

Tomorrow’s visitors Glossop had a 24-6 home win over Winnington Park who were one of their closest rivals at start of play.

Wigton moved up the Cumbria League table with their third victory, a convincing 43-19 home success against Millom.