Lancashire 0 Cumbria 26

JOINT-Cumbria head coaches Gary Broadbent Les Ashe saluted their side and applauded Barrow Island debutant Luke Cresswell for his outstanding contribution after a crushing 26-0 victory over Lancashire saw them land the Tri-Series trophy.

Cresswell, already on the Barrow Raiders radar, put in a stunning show at full-back in the winner-takes-all amateur clash.

But he was not the only player in the squad to shine in the sensational win at Blackbrook, St Helens, on Sunday.

Cumbria’s success followed an equally pleasing result at Egremont last week when Cumbria destroyed Yorkshire 42-16.

A delighted Broadbent said: “The lads were immense. To nil Lancashire on their home turf is a remarkable achievement and over the two games as a coaching group, myself, Les and Neil (Frazer) were really happy with how the progression has gone from last year to this year.

“You look at the average age of the team and it is really young, there are a couple of experienced lads.

“Luke Cresswell was man-of-the-match, he was absolutely superb, but he was over both games to be fair.

“Marcus O’Brien from Millom has been immense for us in both games. I don’t think there is a better nine in the amateur game than him. Ethan Kelly stepped up and made his debut.

“The south of the county lads have done themselves really proud again. It has been a really good tournament and as results have shown Cumbria have come out worthy winners.”

Ashe said: “It is a fantastic achievement to be Tri-Series county champions.

“When you select for representative rugby you have limited time to prepare, so you have to back up your own judgment as coaches and look at your senior players to buy into your philosophies and that is exactly what they did.

“Last year was our first year. We built on that and some of the players have come on leaps and bounds. It is a relatively young squad, a lot are under 25, so it bodes well.

“Luke Cresswell was absolutely outstanding at full-back, his returns of the ball were eye-catching. In an overall team performance that was really good. He really did stand out.

“I can’t think of words to tell you how good he was.”

Cresswell was one of a number of South Cumbrian and Millom players in the squad with his Island team-mate Perry Singleton scoring two tries while Askam’s Mark Tyson also touched down, and Millom goalkicker Adam Kelly picked up six valuable points.

Other local players in the squad were Sam Jones (Barrow Island), Ethan Kelly, Lee Edmondson, Marcus O’Brien (all Millom), Tom Hopkins and Joe Dowsett (Askam) and Danny Morrow (Walney Central).

Cumbria got off to a great start when Distington’s Phil Lister scored on his debut for a try converted by Kelly.

After a tight, tense and tough opening half Cumbria went into the break 10-0 up with Singleton also on the scoresheet as Lancashire paid the price for having two players sin-binned late-on.

He scored a second try, Tyson increased the lead and Cumbria had wrapped-up the championship by the time Lister scored his second try and Kelly added the conversion.

To complete a miserable afternoon for the hosts they had a third player sin-binned two minutes from time.

Ashe said some nine players were making debuts in the competition, and added: “We went there with aspirations of competing with Lancashire.

“We were fortunate to win the toss and play with the wind at our backs, and 10-0 up at half time, although we were happy, we weren’t overly confident that 10 would be enough.”

After some in-depth talks between the coaching staff during the break the team followed orders to work hard defensively and be patient for any scoring opportunities.

Ashe added: “The effort defensively was absolutely outstanding, especially defending their own line.”

The Cumbrian squad had only been made up of 15 players with two members of the Under-19 squad, who had played earlier in the day, on the bench. The U19s put up a brave display before losing 20-10, Island’s Ryan Clegg scoring a try.