WINDERMERE have been out of Cumbria League action since early December because of the adverse weather conditions, but there was little sign of ring-rust as they rattled up 14 points in the opening 10 minutes against Furness with two spectacular tries.

Furness came back at them hard after this and pinned the home side in and around their 22 for 20 minutes.

But strong defence kept the visitors out and Windermere then struck again with another excellent try from long range.

This proved to be the story behind this disjointed, ill-tempered encounter with the heavy Furness forwards on top for much of the game only for the lively home backs to hit them with a series of breakaway scores.

Windermere's lack of match fitness became increasingly apparent as the game went on but they did enough to win by a rather flattering 17-point margin.

It was good to see Jeremy Wood in Windermere colours again after a long lay-off through injury and he made a valuable contribution to the success of this side, which contained a number of young players.

More impressive was the attacking flair of Windermere's inside backs. Dan Nield and Mike Proctor combined well at half-back and James Nield and Nick Cross provided a real cutting edge in the centre.

The forwards were less impressive as a unit but worked hard, with flanker Chris Sansom outstanding, and racked up 23 points with two tries, five conversions and a penalty.

In a storming start, Windermere took the lead after four minutes, Daniel and James Nield splitting the defence for lock-forward Jason Brown to thunder over for a try which Chris Sansom converted.

Soon afterwards, more quick passing along the line enabled Matthew Nield to cut in from his wing and speed in at the posts leaving Sansom a simple goal-kick.

Recovering well, Furness took play to the other end with strong forward play. The Windermere defence was sound, however, and the pressure was relieved when Mike Proctor caught a high kick and full-back Jeremy Wood burst away for Sansom, in support, to touch down and add the conversion.

Back came Furness and Colin While raced away for a fine try, which was converted by Matt Skimmins. A Sansom penalty and a great individual try by Nick Cross, improved by Sansom, took Windermere into a 31-7 lead at the break.

In a scrappy second half, Furness got on top of the tiring home side and, with some good off-loading by the forwards, clawed their way back with tries from Mike Lamb and Alan Pike, both converted by Skimmins, but it was too little and too late.