CUMBRIA moved through to the second round of the County Championship after a hard-fought but deserved victory at Aspatria's Bower Park.

The win means that Cumbria will play Cheshire at Chester this Saturday in the second round.

While the 1997 winners were beating Hertfordshire 24-20 at Aspatria, Cheshire were edging past Durham 27-25 at Macclesfield. As a consequence Hertfordshire now face another long trek to play Durham next weekend in the seeding stage for next season's championship.

Mark Richardson, who skippered Cumbria to their never-to-be-forgotten championship title six years ago at Twickenham, was asked to select the man-of-the-match at Bower Park and he went for home full-back Martin Armstrong, who usually plays centre or wing for Kendal.

"There were some outstanding performances, particularly from scrum-half Paul Newton, but Martin was a bit special," said Richardson.

Hertfordshire had travelled north with a great deal of optimism and although short of five key players (all away on a sevens trip to Ireland) they included four members of the Hertford side which had beaten Penrith in

the semi-final of the Powergen Intermediate Cup.

The visiting forwards were the dominant force in the scrums and they could have gone ahead in the early stages but for some solid defence by the Cumbrians.

It was Cumbria, however, who got the first score. A blindside move at a scrum had Hertfordshire in trouble and slick passing put the Aspatria winger Alex Walton in for a try on his debut.

Walton used to play for Waterloo before moving to live and work in Cumbria.

But Hertfordshire took the lead by half time. Richard Justice, a strong winger, was given a running chance and he powered away to score and bring the teams level.

Then just before half-time Cumbria were caught out by a good break from full-back James Drew and he finished off after a quick inter-change with Justice.

Cumbria came back well at the start of the second-half and when the home forwards broke through, Kendal's Keith Robinson seized on a loose ball to charge over. Then it was Kendal's South African centre Ian Voortman, with a chip and chase, who caused problems for Hertfordshire with Armstrong shooting through to get the touchdown.

Both tries were converted by captain Mike Scott, also of Kendal.

Drew cut the deficit with a penalty for Hertfordshire but home scrum-half Paul Newton of Orrell charged down a kick before racing half the length of the field to score a crucial fourth try for Cumbria.

Late in the game Hertfordshire gave themselves a chance when stand-off Paul Hughes intercepted and raced over for a try which Drew converted.

"There was a lot to be pleased about and, of course, there are always areas where we can improve," said ex-skipper Richardson.

May 9, 2003 09:00