Furness moved up to third in Cumbria Division Two last Saturday after a comfortable 44-0 victory over a depleted Aspatria Eagles in awful weather at the Strawberry Grounds.

The Eagles travelled down with only 14 players in their ranks and when one of their men adversely felt the effects of the freezing conditions early in the second half, the referee took the players off with the result standing.

Furness moved above Carlisle Crusaders in the table as a result of running eight tries past their opponents, who actually began the game well despite being a man light.

But when the much-changed hosts opened the scoring through Tom Brannon being put through by Joe Mallinson, the match became a procession in the worsening conditions.

Captain Corne Els was the next to cross the whitewash with Furness scoring at regular intervals for the rest of the first half to effectively finish the match as a contest with plenty to spare in the increasing gloom.

However, as the half progressed and as the score racked up, it was obvious that several players were starting to seriously suffer from the numbing effects of the wind and rain that was sweeping through

When the whistle was eventually blown for half-time, it was a race to reach the comparative warmth of the changing rooms, with some understandably reluctant-looking players emerging for the second half.

No sooner had the referee got proceedings underway again than one of the Aspatria players fell to the ground, having apparently collapsed.

As he was helped from the pitch, the man in the middle decided that he’d seen enough and drew proceedings to a close, with there unsurprisingly not being any dissenting voices from either side.

Given the limited nature of the match, it was difficult to draw too many conclusions from it, but it’s become clear that Furness’ work in the breakdown has come on leaps and bounds.

This was their last game before Christmas and they’ll look to maintain their good form when they travel to Creighton on January 5.

Hawcoat Park A moved up to third in their table after one unconverted try was enough to earn a 5-0 victory over Leigh 3rd XV in a match that could be best described as ‘attritional.’

The Maroon and Whites’ first team had their match at bottom club Upper Eden in Cumbria Division One abandoned due to a frozen pitch, with Windermere’s Division Two fixture at Moresby falling to the same fate.

Both matches are due to be replayed this Saturday.