St Benedict’s will have been encouraged by their performance in defeat at Warrington last week.

After trailing 22-0 at half-time they stormed back to lead 26-25 only to be denied by a last minute penalty.

For the first 40 minutes it looked like the Saints had never met each other, never mind played together.

Saints’ stalwart Stephen Howse said: “Stern words were said at half-time from the coaching staff because if something didn't change Saints were in for a long afternoon.

"If the first half was awful from a Saints’ point of view then the second half was a total turn around.

“If we had applied ourselves in the first half like we did in the second the outcome could have been a lot different.

"I understand we had lads missing but it showed in the second half it was not the team selected which was the problem.

"It comes down to attitude but credit where credit is due and the second half performance was fantastic.”

Tomorrow St Benedict’s host Burnage in their latest North One West clash. The visitors have 12 more points than the West Cumbrians, who have two games in hand.

Last week Burnage had a very good 24-17 home win over fourth-placed Northwich.

Top match in North Lancs Cumbria is at Carlisle where the league leaders host their nearest rivals, Aspatria.

When they met at Bower Park on November 19 Carlisle ran out 29-17 winners and the city side have built on that and currently lead the Black Reds by 14 points.

Aspatria do have a game in hand but if they lose at Warwick Road tomorrow then it seems very unlikely they will be able to catch them.

Wigton suffered a setback to their hopes when they lost at the improving Hawcoat Park last week.

They will expect to get back to winning ways tomorrow when they host Upper Eden.

They have slipped seven points behind second-placed Aspatria while Upper Eden are in the last relegation place nine points off safety.

Workington and Silloth remain locked together at the bottom three points behind the Kirkby Stephen side so every game is vital from now on in.

Workington travel to Droylsden to take on Aldwinians who are fourth bottom but 12 points better-off than the Zebras.

Silloth do have a home game but it’s against Hawcoat Park who shocked Wigton last week.

In the Cumbria League the top match is at Keswick where the Lakesiders host Whitehaven.

Cockermouth entertain St Benedict’s Ravens; Moresby travel to Millom and Egremont are at home to Carlisle Crusaders.

Cockermouth had returned to action last week against Windermere and in a second-half rally turned a 3-0 interval deficit into a 22-3 victory with tries from McKenzie Jenkin, Mark Watson, Sam Wilson and Nathaniel May.