A patched-up Hawcoat Park were defeated 36-20 in their rearranged fixture at St Benedicts in the Cumbria Shield last Saturday.

The Maroon and Whites made the journey up to Whitehaven with just the bare 15 players and most of them were young players who have predominantly taken to the field for the club’s A team.

However, their makeshift line-up, which included four recognised props, showed great commitment, as they ran the ball at every opportunity and helped to produce what was a very entertaining game of rugby.

The visitors claimed the first points early on through a penalty from captain George Smith, but Bennies hit back with the game’s opening try when one of their back-row forwards forced his way over in the corner.

Park led 6-5 at half-time after Smith banged over a penalty from 35 metres, but they faced a tough task in the second half as they were playing up a slope and against a home side who’d no doubt had a flea in their ear.

Bennies adopted a more direct approach after the break, with their forwards allowing them to get on top and they ran in three quick tries, two of them converted, to open up a 24-6 lead.

To their credit, Hawcoat did not subside and hit back when good handling from Keenan Cotton and a strong run from Smith and Lewis Sayle led to a try for scrum-half Jack Shannon.

With 15 minutes left, the gap was reduced to four points when Rory Sayle spotted a gap to go through and score, with Smith converting well.

However, hopes of a remarkable comeback were snuffed out by Bennies’ fifth try of the afternoon and, with Colin Niven off injured for Park, their full back ran in an 80-metre intercept score to give the scoreline a harsh look.