18-18 Ft....

This was a far, far better contest that I'd expected, and a great tribute to Garry Purdham that will long be remembered by all present. Obviously England were missing the bulk of their first choice XVII, but even so Cumbria's performance was amazing considering there were only five SL players in their squad, plus one from Egremont Rangers who played most of the second half and scored the second try. England's only real concession to the occasion was to not kick a penalty from right in front of the sticks four minutes from time and not attempt a drop goal, but they were certainly pushing for a winning try right to the end.

Rob Purdham was predictably named man of the match, although my own choice would have been Will Sharp, who I thought was absolutely outstanding; he defended superbly and made good yards going forward. I’ve been fairly ambivalent about him leaving until now, but on this performance our loss will be very much Hull’s gain. He seemed to play pretty much entirely out wide on the left, which really makes me wonder whether McDermott misused him by presumably directing him work inside, and failed to get the best out of him as a result. Ade Gardner also put in a solid defensive display on the other wing, which I’ve never really seen him have to do before against opponents who were having more of the ball than his own team. The first Cumbria try came after Paul Sykes kicked out on the full - some things don't change!

SOunds like London was well represented by players old and current.

And a good turn out of fans to. A very good summary by PoD.

Just for the record teams were as follows. It looks like Will Sharp was the only guest (i.e. non-Cumbrian) in the home team, the rest of whom all played amateur/junior rugby in the county before becoming RL professionals, although I read on another forum that Will's father originates from the Kells area of Whitehaven. There were actually six SL players in the Cumbria squad - I'd overlooked Gregg McNally, who was on loan at Oldham at the end of the season:

Cumbria

Gary Broadbent (Walney/Barrow)
Ade Gardner (Walney/St.Helens)
Jason Mossop (Hensingham/Workington)
Scott McAvoy (Hensingham/Whitehaven)
Will Sharp (South London/Harlequins)
Rob Purdham (Egremont/Harlequins)
Liam Campbell (Roose/Barrow)
Ewan Dowes (Sedburgh RU/Hull)
Jack Pedley (Walney/Workington)
Kyle Amor (Hensingham/Leeds)
Brett McDermott (Roose/Barrow)
Spencer Miller (Kells/Whitehaven)
Oliver Wilkes (Ulverston/Harlequins)

Subs:
Howard Hill (Hensingham/Whitehaven)
Kris Coward (Hensingham/Workington)
Gregg McNally (Kells/Huddersfield)
Jamie Butler (Askam/Barrow)
John Paul Brocklebank (Egremont)
Aaron Low (Barrow Island/Workington)
Neil Frazer (Seaton/Workington)

England

Chris Riley
Peter Fox
Michael Shenton
Tony Clubb
Tom Briscoe
Paul Sykes
Richie Myler
Andy Lynch
Micky Higham
Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook
Joe Westerman
Ben Westwood
Jamie Langley

Subs:
Ryan Atkins
Gareth Carvell
Nick Scruton
Ben Harrison
Scott Murrell
Jodie Broughton

Apparently Wills dad was Cumbrian born