MIKE ATKINSON

STOCKPORT travelled to Carlisle for the first fixture of the New Year and came away with a bonus point victory to move back up the table to fifth place.

Clearly benefitting from the Christmas break, the addition of new recruits, Liam McGovern at 10, Rhodri Mayer at 15 and the return after several years of Nic Smith at 8, Stockport ran out 26-13 winners.

Despite the score line the two teams were well matched for much of the game, both sides creating scoring opportunities they were unable to take due to good defence or minor errors.

But Stockport did get the four tries that really mattered to the two scored by Carlisle, the second a consolation in the dying moments of the game.

Carlisle started well, playing in the Stockport half for the first 15 minutes and coming away with a penalty after only 5 minutes.

Eventually Stockport gained some momentum and after several good phases scrum half Tom Duffy switched direction to feed wing Richard Sackville-West for him to score an unconverted try after 25 minutes.

Both sides then had phases of attack but it was Carlisle who scored a try after an attack down the left wing and their forwards then carried over for the try.

Soon after the restart, Carlisle dropped a ball on the Stockport 10 metre line and Jordan Pearson picked up and made a good break going outside the Carlisle players and into their half, his offload to Simon Green