As part of the celebrations to open Wigton’s new all-weather facility, rugby union fans had the chance to watch two keenly contested derby matches.

Wigton beat Aspatria 31-19 while Wigton Wanderers defeated Silloth 13-7 in the second game.

In the senior clash there were satisfying aspects for both coaches – Malcolm Brown (Wigton) and Mark Richardson (Aspatria) – to consider ahead of the opening rou8nd of League matches this week-end.

Brown, with ten first teamers unavailable because of their commitment to a sevens tournament in Harpenden, will be delighted at th depth of his squad.

For Richardson, who has just taken on the coaching role at Bower Park, he knows it’s going to be tough with the departure of some key players but he was pleased with the strong show by the forwards and the promise of some younger players.

Wigton had made the brighter start and took the lead with a well-taken try from scrum-half Johnny Wood, who was making his senior debut.

That advantage aqs increased when strong line-out play, and a good forward drive ended with David Thompson crossing for a try which Paul Branthwaite improved.

The Aspatria forwards were scrummaging particularly well and after some good pressure on the home line Graeme Andrews got in for their opening try.

Wigton looked sharp on the counter attack an their young backs posed a few problems. It was from such a break that Matthew Nichol got away to score a well-taken try which Branthwaite improved.

Aspatria had some youngsters on show themselves and one of them, who looked promising throughout, centre Adam Birkett reduced the arrears with a try before the break which Jack Clegg converted.

Wigton increased their 19-12 interval advantage early in the second period when powerful Mark Deans, their stand-out forward on the day, went over from 15 metres and Branthwaite again converted.

The Aspatria forwards then enjoyed an excellent spell and with Kristian Borthwick throwing out some clever passes in mid-field they had Wigton penne back and scrambling in defence.

However there was nothing the Greens could do to prevent Clegg going over in the corner, and then putting over an excellent touchline conversion.

At 26-19 it was still anyone’s game but Wigton clinched victory when another counter-attack produced the final score. Centre Johnny Charters went 40 metres to score an unconverted try.

In the second game it was an intriguing contest between the powerful Silloth forwards and th sharp Wigton backs.

Silloth had taken the lead with a good try from hooker Ian Morris which player-coach Phil Scott improved.

The Wanderers were playing against the wind and were under pressure up-front for lngthy periods but they did get out long enough to score a well-taken try. A clever kick in behind Silloth from John Wright saw Charles Studholme arriving late to touchdown.

Then it was Wright himself, with a thrilling run from 40 metres who put the Wanderers in front with a second unconverted try.

The second-half was closely fought with few scoring opportunities and the only addition was a penalty from the Wanderers’ Wayne Southward.

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