Carlisle Rugby Club pit themselves against the North One West leaders Vale of Lune tomorrow.

It hasn’t been the best of starts for newly-promoted Carlisle but nobody at the club expected it to be easy.

The one victory so far was a comprehensive 64-0 home win against struggling St Benedict’s.

Two away trips have been tough. They lost 34-18 at Wilmslow and, on Saturday, went down 38-19 at Stockport.

Those two clubs sit second and third in the table behind tomorrow’s visitors to Warwick Road, Vale of Lune.

After the defeat at Stockport, head coach David Stout said: “Absentees and early injuries undoubtedly contributed to a disappointing afternoon in one of the most difficult fixtures we face this season.

“Our indiscipline and control of the ball must improve if we are to stop giving good opposition the opportunity to punish mistakes, inflict scoreboard pressure and win games.

“Despite that, I felt we played the better all-round rugby but were undone by a large, well-drilled pack who executed the catch and drive well enough to close out the game aided by our high penalty count. When we click though, we will be a genuine threat to anybody.

“The commitment and work-rate of this young side cannot be faulted which will stand us in good stead when we focus on better control of the ball and decision making in the coming weeks of training.”

Josh Holmes, Henry Wainwright and Max Connon scored the Carlisle tries.

Lancaster visitors Vale of Lune have scored 155 points in their opening three games, including Saturday’s 66-12 hammering of Manchester.

In North One East, Penrith continued their fine start to the campaign with a third straight win to sit top of the pile.

Their latest success was a 58-10 win at Dinnington after one of their longest away trips.

Last season, Dinnington had run them close and Penrith only scrapped a win with a try at the death.

This time, after an initial burst by the home side, Penrith had a reasonably easy time of it as the eight-try win and scoreline suggests.

Penrith’s third win out of three, sees them at the top of the table as the only side to have won all three games but it is far too early to read anything into it.

From two games with home advantage and an away win against a side without a win it gives a false impression, there will be much stiffer tests to come.

They will have an opportunity to consolidate tomorrow, however, when they play again at Winters Park, this time against fourth-bottom Northern.

They have only won one game so far and last week were beaten 27-10 at home by Morpeth, who are currently third in the table, three points behind Penrith.

Th eight Penrith tries were scored by George Graham, Adam Howe, Mike Raine, Jamie McNaughton (2), James Reynolds, Dan Richardson and Matt Allinson.

In North Lancs Cumbria, Keswick lead the way among the locals.

Unbeaten after three games, they beat previously unbeaten Littleborough 13-8 to move second in the table.

They are three points behind the leaders Tarleton and tomorrow stay in Cumbria when they travel to Hawcoat Park.

Against Littleborough, Keswick scored first after a great burst from Ryan Weir was carried on with driving forward play for Mike Tait to touchdown.

More strong play followed for Andy Muir to score a try to double the Keswick lead.

Half-time came at the right moment as Littleborough came back at Keswick strongly and scored a try to halve the deficit.

The rest of the game saw Littleborough dominate but Keswick defended superbly to keep them from scoring a try.

The visitors did manage a penalty to move to within two points and to give the good-sized crowd a nail-biting finish. There was a little less tension when Andy Muir kicked a penalty after one of the few sorties into the Littleborough half.

Aspatria mustered enough troops to overcome Trafford MV 32-37 in a real nail biter.

They are level on points with Keswick and get the chance to close the gap on the leaders tomorrow when they visit Tarleton.

The Black Reds had to make several enforced squad changes for the trip to Trafford and will hope to be in a stronger position tougher trip to Tarleton.

The Black Reds team last week was much changed from the previous two weeks due to unavailabilities, injuries, illness and holidays.

The versatile James Ravell added winger to his CV having already played at hooker, prop and flanker in previous games.

The team also includes a pair of old warhorses with Paul Miller and coach Mike Scott drafted in to cover the absentees.

With just over 20 minutes played, Aspatria were reeling and down by 22-5.

To win from there was testament to the character in the weakened side. Ravell, Scott, Jacques Rowe and Matthew Atkinson all scored tries so that Aspatria led 24-22 at half-time.

Ten minutes from the end, Trafford were leading 32-29 but Scott levelled with a penalty and then, late on, Greg Dickinson crashed over for the wining try.

For Aspatria, outstanding performances came from Andrew Miller at centre and Jason Ward at scrum-half.

Second-row Liam Ridley had a great game carrying well while No.8 Gary Hodgson had a typical workmanlike performance.

Wigton edged out visitors Oldham 22-15 to take four points from a scrappy, undistinguished game.

Neither side was able to build a great deal of fluency in a match punctuated by errors and penalties.

Wigton owed a lot to full back Ryan Clark who had a 100 per cent kicking record landing five penalties and a conversion.

Their one try came from flanker John Story.

The Cumbria League opened with wins for Carlisle Crusaders (39-33 at home to Cockermouth), Upper Eden (27-12 at home to Furness) and Windermere (20-13 at Whitehaven).