Morpeth Rugby Club enjoy winning start in the Papa John's Cup

The competition rounds up the season and they are in a pool with Penrith, Bowden RFC and Moortown, who were their first opponents.

How successful the new competition becomes will be interesting.

The clash with the County Cup, together with rumours that more than 80 teams had cried off their Papa John games, could suggest more than teething difficulties.

That said, the crowd at Mitford Road was treated to a highly competitive encounter.

Morpeth took an early lead after a dropped Moortown pass on five minutes, the ball bounced kindly for Ben Hornby, who gathered and just made it to the line in a foot race.

The home side looked lively. A good George Ayliffe kick ahead was behind a penalty conceded by Moortown which saw Hornby converting on 15 minutes.

Then a quickly taken penalty resulted in a try for Simon Manley.

Moortown always looked threatening and on 30 minutes an excellent offload after a Craig Donnelly tackle ended with a Moortown try.

The visitors scored again on 39 minutes after another break from their own 22.

The second half saw the home side dominate.

The Moortown defence held firm until the 60th minute when Morpeth secured another three points with a simple penalty.

Morpeth went further ahead on 64 minutes after some sustained forward pressure saw Jackson crash over before Hornby scored a penalty on 73 minutes to put the game to bed.

There was then the notable appearance of two young debutants, Johnny Lishman and Dan Stafford, respective sons of club stalwarts Micky and John.

Final score 28-21.