Life continues to be a contrast for Penrith Rugby Club and Keswick in North One West with the first month of the season completed.

Penrith stayed top, three points clear, while Keswick share bottom spot with Warrington, both still without a point.

Penrith completed their September fixtures with their fourth bonus-point win, 32-27 at home to nearest rivals Wilmslow, while Keswick went down 36-0 at home to Douglas.

Against previously unbeaten Wilmslow, the leaders were ahead in the first minute when George Graham popped the ball to Olly Gutteridge who hit the gap for a clean break and swerved past the full-back for the opening try.

Wilmslow reduced the deficit after Penrith conceded another penalty, which was moved forward by 10 metres and the kick was slotted.

The Cumbrians then got the second try after Ross Jackson fielded a clearance kick. He got behind the visitors first line of defence and Ed Swale, Graham and James Hogg linked to put Scott Lancaster in under the posts.

At 12-3, it was looking good, but Penrith conceded a soft try just before the break and were disappointed to be leading by only four points at half-time.

When the visitors had a second man sent to the bin, Penrith capitalised when Josh Dowson broke down the short side, fed Graham who, in turn, drew the last man and gave the scoring pass to replacement winger Brook Birley. Fraser Nicolson converted and then added a 35-metre penalty.

Wilmslow then scored a converted try from an interception before good steady ball enabled Dowson, Graham and Birley to repeat the trick for Penrith and score in the corner. Again, Nicholson converted.

Penrith’s winning margin was eroded by two late tries by the visitors to earn them two point.

Keswick suffered a shortage of availability through a stag weekend in Prague, so some untried players had their chance to impress against Douglas.

It was soon apparent that, when in possession, Douglas would recycle the ball quickly, putting Keswick under pressure by the speed of their play and they proved difficult to bring down in the tackle.

On eight minutes, a kick and chase saw a Keswick defender pushed off the ball and Douglas were able to gather and score a converted try under the posts for the early lead.

Keswick attacked from the set-pieces but met a strong defence that prevented them from crossing the gain line.

An attack from a line-out saw forwards and backs combine well but the Douglas defence was up to the task, aided by some poor handling that saw the ball knocked forward.