Carlisle Rugby Club completed the first half of their 26-match season with a 27-14 home win over Firwood Waterloo to stay 10 points clear at the top of North One West.

With three minutes played, fly-half Grant Connon spurned the easiest of kicks from a penalty in front of the posts to put the ball out for a five-metre line-out. The forwards duly responded and, from the resulting catch and drive, player-coach Matt Shields was able to score the first try of the day.

Carlisle kept up the pressure and only some desperate defending by Waterloo kept the home side out.

It was too desperate for the liking of the man in the middle who promptly sent off one of the visitors for 10 minutes and they had only played eight minutes!

Carlisle continued to hammer away at the visitors’ defence and soon the persistence paid off.

From a Carlisle scrum on the Waterloo 22, scrum-half James Telford darted left before flying over in the corner.

Waterloo were simply unable to gain any territory in Carlisle’s half, as the hosts continued to progress deep into their half.

Just as Carlisle secured another line-out close to the Waterloo try-line, the visitors managed to secure the ball, leaving their scrum-half to kick for touch and relieve the pressure. Unfortunately for the visitors, the ball was collected by winger Ben Purdham who raced forward only to be dragged down 10 metres short.

With close support to secure the ball at the resulting ruck, the ball was quickly fed across the backline, giving centre Steve Benson his debut first-team try on 22 minutes, converted by Connon.

Carlisle continued to press forward and the visiting pack was having a torrid time up front, with a number of resets.

The fourth and bonus-point try came on 37 minutes from a Carlisle scrum just inside the Waterloo half.

Again, the ball was quickly fed out, this time right to Grant Connon who saw a parting of the Waterloo defence in front of him. He needed no encouragement to seize the opportunity in front of him to go close to the posts for the fourth try and then go in at the break 24-0 ahead.

Waterloo started the second half with a greater sense of urgency, and were eventually rewarded with their first try of the day as they muscled a gap in the defence to score a converted try.

Right from the following restart, Waterloo broke at pace up the park, and with Carlisle seemingly half asleep in defence, quickly scored their second try to narrow the gap to 24-12.

But forced to defend, Carlisle did so well in the second half with Connon converting a penalty for the final score of the game.