Penrith notched up a 31-12 win at Bowdon in North One West but Keswick were well beaten 56-8 by league leaders Wilmslow.

Against relegation threatened Bowdon, there was a good start from Penrith who were ahead as early as the fourth minute after a penalty to the corner.

Although the forwards set themselves up to drive for the line, George Graham fed the ball to young debutant centre Mason Lewthwaite, who crashed over from close range.

Almost immediately Lewtwaite was close to a second but, from the resulting five-metre scrum, Scott Lancaster tore through a gap to score.

Good support play led to the third try as forceful running by Lancaster and Matt Allinson put Ed Swale in the clear and he outpaced the cover from 40 metres to score under the posts.

Penrith then had to withstand a period of pressure from the home side on their own line as the first half came to an end with a 19-0 lead.

They did concede a try midway through the second half when some slack defending out wide allowed the home winger some space.

Penrith’s bonus-point try came after incisive running from first Olly Gutteridge, then Lancaster and Brad Quail took play almost to the line where Allinson had the strength to get over.

Penalties again allowed Bowdon to kick to the visitor’s line and they did manage to fashion a try with 10 minutes left.

When Penrith were awarded a late penalty, they opted to reset the scrum and the pack again provided clean ball. And in the final play of the game, Graham picked his way over for a fifth try and a comfortable win.

Wilmslow top the North One West League table by some margin, and against Keswick their playing qualities were clear.

Yet Keswick had the first points on five minutes from the game’s first penalty, kicked by Lewis Bell.

Keswick had knocked forward and Wilmslow took advantage, kicking through, winning the subsequent line- out and scoring an unconverted try.

Wilmslow scored a second unconverted try on 15 minutes mauling their way over the Keswick line from a line-out.

The hosts varied their attacks, sometimes releasing the ball to the backs, sometimes keeping it tight, and their prop was able to drive through Keswick tackling to score under the posts for a converted try to extend their lead to 17-3.

With only a quarter of the game gone, Wilmslow scored their bonus-point try and it was looking exceedingly bleak for the Cumbrians.

A two-man overlap was foiled by an excellent interception by Danny Price but Wilmslow used their scrum to score their fifth try on 37 minutes for a 27-3 interval lead.

Keswick had their moments after Wilmslow had a man yellow-carded on 42 minutes but couldn’t capitalise and it was the home side who scored the next try.

The interplay between the home side’s backs and forwards, particularly their ability to offload in the tackle, was impressive and it took some good clearing kicks from George Holme to keep them at distance, but they did score again.

A penalty 15 metres out gave them their next opportunity as they tapped and ran right for another unconverted try, with a quarter of the game left.

Shortly after the restart, Keswick failed to close the gap round the tackle on the 22 and a Wilmslow forward was able to run through the gap for a converted try.

On 67 minutes, a clearing kick by Wilmslow was caught by Ryan Weir on the right and his speed outpaced the defence as he ran round to score for Keswick, and reduce the deficit to 49-8.

But Wilmslow had the final word with another converted try near the end.