UPON entering Craven Park via the main gate on Duke Street, you could be forgiven for thinking this was just another game at the famous old ground.

But on closer inspection, things are not quite what they may appear. For starters, there are the maroon jackets worn by the club volunteers greeting those coming into the ground rather than the usual blue.

And then there are the markings on the pitch, featuring a 22-metre area and dashed line five and 15 metres in from the touchline. The final giveaway is the players, wearing their maroon and white hooped jerseys, and running through line-out drills as part of their pre-match routine.

Oh, and the fact there are 15 of them on each side rather than the more familiar 13.

On Saturday, Barrow’s home of rugby league was turned over to the union code for one day, with Hawcoat Park bringing their North Lancs/Cumbria League encounter with fellow Cumbrians Silloth to the ground due to their home at the Sports and Social Club being unavailable.

So out went the tackle count, the play-the-ball and no kicking out on the full, and in came rucks, mauls and contested scrummaging – along with, no doubt, some good-natured debate on the terraces about the merits of the two codes among the union die-hards and league-loving Craven Park regulars who were tempted down for the day.

It is believed to be the first time a full game of rugby union has been played at the ground – matches of half league and half union have been held there before – and is perhaps even more notable given how such an idea would have been unthinkable even as recently as just over 20 years ago.

Back in rugby union’s amateur era, the merest whiff of any association with the professional code would have seen a person risk being banned from the sport for life.

But such barriers have long since been broken down since the IRB declared the game ‘open’ in 1995, with plenty of players and coaches freely crossing between the two.

Take, for example, Hawcoat Park coach Dean Marwood, who played league for Barrow and now passes on his knowledge to some of the town’s exponents of the 15-man code. The connections even extend to Ciaran Trainor, the day’s referee, whose brother Pat starred for Barrow back in the day.

Among those players taking the opportunity to cross the divide is Lee Haney, with the Raiders back making his first appearance at Craven Park since the Kingstone Press League One defeat to Rochdale Hornets in May.

“I play a bit of union normally in the off-season,” said Haney. “I’ve had a couple of niggling injuries which I thought might need operating on, but I’m over them now and I thought I’d have a bit of a run-out for these and see how it goes. It gets me out of the house!

“It was very hard for my first game back. I’m blowing a bit, but it was good and I enjoyed it.

“It’s the first game of rugby union down here and everyone enjoyed it. It was a bit of a hard game, but we got the win.”

A 48-14 win, to be precise, collecting the bonus point for scoring four tries as well. However, this was a much harder-fought win for Hawcoat than the final scoreline against the bottom-of-the-table side might perhaps suggest.

The pack set the foundations for the win, with a powerful maul leading to a move which saw Will Coles go over out wide for an unconverted score after seven minutes and then earning a penalty try from a five-metre scrum. James Howden’s solo try and conversion put Hawcoat 19 points up, but Silloth did manage to pull a converted try back before the break thanks to their rampaging number eight breaking off the back of a scrum on the edge of the 22 and powering through the defence.

He managed a second for the visitors 10 minutes after the restart, but not before Hawcoat had clinched the bonus point with a try out wide from a flowing attacking move.

The home side went on to score another four tries to run out comfortable victors, but skipper Dan White, who managed one of those after barging his way over, conceded the direct approach from Silloth prevented them from being able to play their trademark expansive, running rugby.

“It was enjoyable, but it was a bit frustrating as well,” said White, whose side head to league leaders Carlisle this weekend.

“We wanted to put on a bit of a show, but I don’t think we turned many league heads! Getting the five points was the most important thing though.

“It’s a big game against Carlisle next week. They’re top of the league going into this one and they’re not too different to us; they like to play an expansive game and they’re quite a young side as well, so it should be a good one.”