TOMORROW’S Cumbria Cup final at Wigton will be a repeat of last season when Penrith beat Carlisle to lift the trophy for the third time in five years.
 
Penrith will be hot favourites to improve that sequence to four in six when they tackle the city side at Lowmoor Road (3pm) in the county showpiece.
 
Carlisle have actually reached the final without breaking sweat as they had a walk-over when Kirkby Lonsdale withdrew from the competition and then received a bye into he final.
 
Penrith, on the other hand, had to work hard to overcome Wigton in the quarter final and on Saturday beat Workington 45-15 at the Ellis.
 
League form, too, has been a contrast with Penrith within touching distance of a promotion play-off place in National Three North while Carlisle only cleared themselves of relegation worries from North One East in the closing weeks of the season.
 
But a Cup final is a one-off, a leveller and a chance for Carlisle, in particular, to show that their inconsistent League form masked a good, solid combination.
 
Coach Richard Metcalf will be wondering which Carlisle side will turn-up but he knows the key is likely to be up-front to try and establish control and negate the speed and quality in the Penrith backs.
 
Workington hoped they would be able to do that at the Ellis on Saturday but couldn’t and Penrith’s swash-buckling style of “we can always score more tries than you” won the day impressively.
 
Carlisle have two more finals to look forward to after their second team, the Crusaders won at Workington on Tuesday in the Cumbria Vase semi-final.

It finished 23-6 to the Crusaders after a tight first-half against the Steelers in which they had led 10-6.

Carlisle opened the scoring on five minutes when good scrimmaging yielded a superb passing sequence that led to Matthew Minott going into the corner for an unconverted try.

Workington had the chance to reply with a penalty soon after, but Daniel Blaney was unlucky to see his kick hit the bar and subsequently cleared to safety by Carlisle. However, on 15 minutes, Blaney made no mistake with his second penalty.

For the next 20 minutes, both sides produced good rugby and sloppy mistakes in equal measure as well as getting bogged down in midfield scrimmages. But on 36 minutes, Carlisle increased their lead when Luke Graham went over for a try that he was unable to convert.

A minute from half time, Blaney again reduced the arrears and Workington went in at the break still hanging on to Carlisle’s shirt tails.

The second half, though, saw Carlisle swat them aside as under the lights they sealed their place in the Final in the opening 15 minutes. Luke Graham added another penalty on 45 minutes and 4 minutes later, Francis Dixon broke clear to storm over fro a try that this time Graham converted.

Following another Graham penalty on 54 minutes, Carlisle effectively shut up shop and apart from one or two chances, effectively kept Workington at bay with some sturdy defending.

The Vase final with Kirkby Lonsdale still has to be arranged but on Monday, Carlisle will contest the Cumbria Colts final at Creighton against Wigton.

The Greens will be in good heart following their 18-17 win over Billingham at the week-end which won them the Colts League. That's the winning squad pictured below while at the top one of Penrith's sharp young backs Sandy Kerridge is shown in full cry.

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