PROMOTED Birchfield came to Moss Farm for the opening fixture in the newly formed South Lancashire & Cheshire Division One, and it was only in the last 10 minutes that Northwich finally penetrated the Widnes team's defence.

Debutant wing forward Damian Whitter finally did the damage he always looked capable of on the few occasions he was given the chance to run at the opposition.

Fed by Phil Ayers, who had just come on as a replacement for player-coach Andy Manicorn, Whitter showed his rugby league credentials as he brushed aside tacklers to set up Ricky Evans for a simple score.

Charles Wood, who played stand-off before reverting to his customary full back position when Ayers appeared, kicked the conversion.

He had previously converted all of Northwich's nine points with penalties in a game that, for all its individual competitiveness, never really got going.

Birchfield were certainly fired up for a game and referee Geoff Cove issued several warnings without resorting to the newly instated punishment of the sin bin.

But, for all their aggression, the visitors were on the back foot from the outset as the Northwich pack set the pace.

New scrum half Mike Gallimore, a former Winnington Park youth player, had a lively afternoon. But for all the Northwich possession, it was Birchfield who put the first points on the board, with penalties from each of their only two forays out of their own half in the opening quarter.

But by half time the score was level at 6-6 after Wood had converted two out of three penalty attempts.

Then within minutes of the restart, he was on target again to give his side the lead for the first time.

The next half-hour was something of a war of attrition as Birchfield worked manfully to keep Northwich at bay and the game was interrupted as both sides struggled to come to terms with the new scrummage laws.

Although the Northwich pack, in which Daniel Davey did an excellent job standing in as hooker for the holidaying new signing Simon Grant, dominated, they struggled to make good use of the ball whenever the scrum wheeled.

Clearly this is something that coach Chris Brierley needs to work on before Saturday's NPI cup game at Moss Farm, when Wilmslow's big pack will pose more problems than Birchfield's less experienced eight.

Their biggest problem may be selection, with utility forward Dave Briggs and hooker Simon Grant available, and several second team players pressing for places following their 57-3 opening victory at Birchfield.

Here, Huw Jones was the star of the match as Northwich, guided by coach Phil Clarke, hammered their opponents.

Full back Jones scored a hat trick of tries and kicked another 12 points.

Other tries scorers were livewire scrum half Steve Taylor (2), Ian Dickinson and Stephen Galbraith.

The 3rd XV won an exciting game at Whitchurch 27-25 to give new captain John Caufield a great start.

This Saturday the 2nd XV face Widnes at home, the 3rd XV away to Congleton.