Last week 72 points, this week 72 points!

In term's of possession, this was probably Wigton's most dominant performance of the season, but with only a month of the season gone, they will be looking to keep their feet on the ground and not get carried away.

Benedicts were typically determined but were able to find very few spanners to throw into the works for Wigton. They followed a tactic of trying to kick their way out of defence but often the result was a high speed counter attack. In the second half, with a freshening wind at their backs they tried kicking long, but on more than one occasion kicked the ball dead, giving Wigton a scrum back in Bennies territory.

As for Wigton, they repeated last week's haul of 12 tries and 6 conversions. At times in the first half the handling and support play were of the highest order but the game became somewhat scrappy in the middle of the second half. Party-piece moves were tried which did not always come off, support was not used and passes did not stick in the breezy conditions. Perhaps more tellingly, Benedicts rallied their defensive efforts and managed to frustrate many attacks.

Wigton got off to a poor start before the game even kicked off. Mark Lee was a late injury drop out. Jordan Wood was an even later drop out when the young winger was injured during the warm up. The reformed replacements bench had a distinctly venerable look about it, consisting of David Thompson and Tane Manihera, both of whom had to go home for their kit. There was also a former county captain standing by in case of emergencies.

Once the game started, Wigton opened the scoring after three minutes when Matthew Atkinson won a ball on the Benedict's throw and the ball was kept moving until an overlap was created for Will Miller, playing on the wing, to score. Shortly afterwards, the visitors, keeping the ball moving from a line out win, were awarded a penalty in front of the Wigton posts following a ruck offence. Kristian Wood slotted the ball over to close the score to 5-3.wigton went close on a couple of occasions before scoring a second try from a Benedict's scrum. For the first of several times in the day, Bennies were shunted off the ball. The ball was passed left and right as Wigton probed the defence. A feature of the day was the way in which attacks went side to side until the defence was moved out of position. For this score, centre Richard Moffatt touched down after a lovely soft pass from Atkinson. The conversion was added by Ali Ledingham.

Strong running second row Mark Deans was proving to be a real handful for the West Cumbrians. He was able to suck in defenders and then offload the ball to support. For Wigton's next score, Deans was involved twice with such offloads before Miller scored his second try. Ledingham's conversion took Wigton out to 19-3.

Wigton were running the ball from all parts and in a purple patch every pass seemed to stick and difficult balls were picked off bootlaces or taken on the half-volley. Benedicts were penalised for an early engagement at a scrum in their 22. Atkinson took a quick tap and moved the ball left to David Hanabury, who was playing on the wing at this point. He was tackled short and the ball was recycled. It was moved right towards Deans, who rode a tackle and slipped the ball to Ali Ledingham, who dummies his way over the line and then converted to make the score 26-3.

The next try came after Benedicts were shoved off their own scrum and the ball was whisked out to the eager back line for David Percival to score. As the score reached 33-3, there was some respite for Bennies as Deans left the field after a bang on the knee. He was replaced by David Thompson, called onto the bench at short notice. There was still lots of tackling to do as Atkinson, Marrs and Dobson, having his best game so far, all did their share of ball carrying.

Gregg Smith fielded the ball from the kick off and initiated the next attack. Ledingham worked some space for Atkinson who galloped over to score whilst ignoring his outside support. The skipper also scored the next following a penalty to Wigton deep in the Benedict's 22. This time the weapon of choice was a driving maul. Ledingham's conversion made the score at halftime 45-3. Benedicts were looking tired and it was noticeable that several of the forwards were struggling to get back in the defensive line. However any thoughts the home supporters had of reaching for the record books were dashed by a revitalised defence in the second half.

Will Miller thought he had bagged his hat trick early on in the half, but referee Dean Lythgoe did not agree and awarded a 22 drop out to St Benedicts. The drop out was run back relentlessly by Wigton to bring a try for Gregg Smith who continued with his impressive form. Atkinson fluffed his lines at a five metre scrum when he knocked on in the process of scoring. Shortly afterwards Bennies centre Ryan Fisher was yellow carded for a high tackle on his opposite number Moffatt. The penalty was run and a try was created for Percival who again looked comfortable with first team rugby. Ledingham's conversion went in off the post giving a scoreline of 57-3.

The genesis of the next try was a rampage by Marrs who was held up over the line. From the resulting scrum Atkinson picked up and the fed scrum half Fergus Ledingham,who had been sharp all afternoon, for the try. 62-3. For most of the rest of the half Wigton were unable to get the scoreboard moving again. A combination of a determined defence battling for pride, over- elaboration and an inability to move the ball to support meant that chances did not come with such frequency.

Indeed, the next try came from the visitors. From a scrum deep in Wigton territory, Atkinson tried to pick up and run out of defence, but the ball went loose and was swooped on by scrum half Steve Routledge who needed no second invitation to score. The conversion was missed so we had a scoreline of 62-8.

Some of the precision went out of the Wigton game, although the freshening breeze was making handling. Benedicts earned a series of penalties to give them some respite. They looked like scoring as they surged towards the Wigton line, but hooker Wood opted for a little chip which was gobbled up by the defenders.

Wigton brought Tane Manihera on at scrum half for the final few minutes. He was the 28th player Wigton have used in five games, showing the greater depth of the squad this season. Manihera had a hand in a try from a scrum awarded on the edge of the Benedict's 22 after Doran agonisingly watched his raking clearance kick trundle over the dead ball line. Manihera broke from the base of the scrum and found Atkinson with an inside pass to score. 67-3.

The final try followed a Benedicts line out in the Wigton half. Wigton avoided the problems of line out throwing by several methods, one of which was for Marrs to run through his repertoire of sneaky short throws. That worked once. The next tactic was to avoid having any line outs on our throw. The final method was to get Thompson to throw in. Indeed his throw to Atkinson could qualify as the best line out throw of the season to date. We had a fair amount of success on the Benedicts throw as they struggled with the wind. They were either penalised for not straight of else they through it down our side of the line.

The last lineout saw Wood's throw catch the wind and end up in the arms of John Story who had been outstanding in his support work all afternoon. He opened play up, linking with his back line. Smith and Ledingham inter passed to attack down the left flank, with the final,pass going to the ubiquitous Atkinson who scored his fifth try of the day, and Wigton's 51st of the season, giving a final score of 73-8. The Wilde agriculture Man of the Match award went to Andrew Bell who approaches near legendary status in Wigton as he is well into his fourth decade of first tea, rugby without any visible waning of his powers. The ere were honourable mentions for five try skipper Atkinson and the improving Percival.

Next week we visit Whitehaven who have had some good results so far and will probably give us our stiffest test to date. They have one or two forwards who could be a match for us in terms of physicality. Coach Brown will be ensuring during the week that the match is approached with a level headed attitude and nothing is taken for granted. Each week sees a fresh challenge. So far all have been met successfully. We hope that next week will be no exception.

One last bit of news is that next week sees the return of newly married father Dr Gareth Smith to rugby as he turns out for the Wanderers. After a lively start to his career, rugby has been taking a back seat to his medical studies. He now will follow in the footsteps of legendary rugby playing medics such as JPR Williams, as he takes to the field again. For out younger readers JPR was a Welshman who played a bit at full back some time ago.