Cumbria crashed to a 38-0 home defeat at Kendal against Northumberland in their opening County Shield game.

It was an impressive performance from the visitors who are coached by former Aspatria and Cumbria coach Tommy Borthwick.

Cumbria team manager Mark Richardson said: “They were very impressive, especially when they got the ball wide.
“We stuck at it and showed a lot of spirit but weren’t helped by a few injuries.

“We had to re-shuffle at half-back because of injuries to James Gough and Paul Newton so in some ways, against a very good side, it wasn’t a bad effort.”

South African Heinrich Jonker, brought in for his Cumbrian debut, did particularly well in the centre.

Northumberland were favourites for the game on the strength of the superior level from which their players were drawn and they justified that assessment.

The match was a triumph for the Smailes family, with wingman Hamish justifying his trip north from Launceston with four tries while brother Jack, the Tynedale full-back, scored the other two.

Tynedale fly-half Gavin Beasley, who is a west Cumbrian who opted to play for Northumberland while playing and studying in the north east, landed four conversions.

“The extra intensity we displayed and the extra pace we had wide out were the difference,” said coach Borthwick who had previously led Tynedale to promotion.           

“Hopefully the performances by the Smailes boys will have helped put them back in the mix for an England Counties XV place.

“The forwards laid the foundations and we scored early on, which was important at Mint Bridge. We scored three tries playing into a breeze in the first-half and led 19-0 at half-time.

“Cumbria made some changes and came more into the game after the interval, but we came back and scored three tries in the last 20 minutes.

“I thought our props Rupert Harden and Johnny Williams both carried the ball well, while flanker Andrew Murray had a very effective game and was responsible for three of the tries with his distribution and decision making.”

Like Cumbria, Durham were also involved in a tussle against players from a higher level of the league pecking order and they went down 41-16 to North Midlands at Stourbridge.

The day was especially successful for host club wingman Greg Summers, who ran in four tries, as the Midlands side, relegated last season, made a solid start to their bid to get promotion from the Shield back into the Bill Beaumont Cup.

Durham look to get their challenge back on track when they take on derby rivals Northumberland at Alnwick next Saturday, while Cumbria face another stern test when they visit Stourbridge to tackle  North Midlands.

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