The newly crowned league champions tried to put on a display for their loyal supporters but handling for both sides was desperately difficult. As the game progressed the players, especially the backs, got colder and colder, not helped by frequent stoppages for injuries. Relegation threatened Moor successfully disrupted Wigton's rhythm, but showed little attacking threat themselves, relying heavily on speedy winger Perkins Joseph.

On another day, in different circumstances, Wigton would have opted to play a more limited style of rugby better suited to the conditions, but they stuck to their decision to play ambitious, attacking rugby, rarely putting boot to ball. Virtually all penalties outside the 22 were tapped and run. However the frequent fumbles and drops, by both sides, understandable on the day, created a scrappy game. To their credit, Moor too were willing to pass the ball around but sometimes their passing ended up in a net loss of ground. However, they had decided that this was probably their best chance of getting some return from the trip and they stuck to their guns.

Heaton Moor got off to a disappointing start when after the first scrum, the unmistakeably prop-like figure of prop Stewart Poole, left the field injured. The visiting supporters were animated by the prospect of Tony Kirkham having to take the field, but we were denied that particular treat. This was the first of several disruptive injuries suffered by the visitors who also lost fly half Josh Hodkinson and by the end they were shoring up their pack with the least injured players.

Wigton's first try came from a quick tap around the Moor 22. Mark Lee, Mark Deans and John Story were all involved in the build before centre Gregg Smith had the chance to use his pace to attack the line. he was tackled short, but a great offload found winger Callum Studholme who scored, bringing up Wigton's 1000th point of the season.Ali Ledingham added a good conversion for an early 7-0 scoreline.

As Wigton continued to attack, Moor were forced to concede penalties. The next chance came when an Ali Ledingham dummy opened up the defence. He passed to Matthew Atkinson who was brought down short. The ball was recycled and moved right with Story's well-weighted pass putting Smith into a gap to score an unimproved try of his own.

Moor got on the board as Wigton were penalised for holding on in the tackle and Danny Childs stepped up to take the points. 12-3.

Both sides found the lineouts tricky and no doubt the scrum halves were delighted by the amount of tapped ball. When Wigton did catch the ball they executed some effective drives. Moor, with the wind at their backs used some effective kicks to keep play as far from their line as possible. For Moor an attack was foiled when Joseph was bundled into touch. On the Wigton side, Smith led a break out of defence but passes to support were not sticking. Both centres, Smith and Moffatt were prominent for Wigton as were Lee and Story in the back row. Lee initiated several breaks but the subsequent handling defused the threats.

Towards the end of the half Wigton enjoyed a long period in the opposition 22. Eventually the dancing feet of fly half Hanabury set up a position near the line from where the forwards were able to drive Story over for the third try.
Finally Sean Stirrup had a couple of long range shots at goal. The first, from about 45 metres was a good effort. This encouraged to have a more ambitious attempt a few moments later, which looked what it was; ambitious. With the half time score at 17-3, Moor left Wigton on the field and resorted to the warmth of the changing rooms.

The second half was one of the less entertaining forty minutes of the season. Each side took it in turns to have periods of possession terminated by knock ons. Moor's injuries continued to disrupt play, leaving some to wonder whether this was part of a long term strategy to freeze Wigton's backs into ineffectiveness or hypothermia. If that was the case it nearly succeeded. The flaw in the plan was that their own backs were getting just as cold. For the next twenty minutes the only entry in the notebook was, "Wigton now have the wind".

Wigton worked hard to fashion an opening and finally Smith again set up a good position and an overlap was created on the right. Waning, having come on at prop, chose this moment to try to emulate Ali Ledingham by throwing a dummy, but instead of scything through the gap created by his own dexterity, he was swallowed up by the defence whilst two backs outside him awaited the scoring pass. However, the try did come from this position. Moor looked to have saved the day when they won a turnover, but then turned the ball over to Wigton in turn. The ball was moved along the line and two defenders bounced off Lee to allow the score which Ledingham converted for a 24-3 score and a bonus point. Lee went on to be awarded the Man of The Match by sponsors D A Harrison & Son.

Wigton scored one more try before the end when after several phases offs session, Miller on the wing showed his strength by stepping off his right foot and charging through several defenders to score the fifth try.

A sixth try looked to be in the offing when Moor were penalised about twenty yards out. Wigton set up a driving maul which made impressive ground before Moor were penalised for pulling down five yards from their line. Referee Lord delighted the supporters by blowing the final whistle, allowing them to get inside to the warmth of the bar and mull over the 29-3 scoreline.

In truth, both sides have plenty to think about. Heaton Moor, following Keswick's win yesterday, now have their hands full if they are to avoid the drop. As for Wigton, they have a break from league action next week when they welcome Carlisle to Lowmoor Road for the semi final of the Cumbria Cup.

Carlisle had two narrow wins over Wigton in league matches last season, but both teams have performed much more convincingly this time around. Carlisle have pushed for promotion in North West One, and although the most likely outcome is that they will miss out, they have had several very good performances. They seem to be a side where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Paul Lancaster seems to be their main attacking threat, but the pack have few "big names" but seem to be well organised and together as a unit, often outplaying bigger eights. This match will give us a good idea of how we have progressed this season. Wigton will hope that a Cup Final can add the icing on the cake to their league success.