Douglas Rugby Club unleashed a 62-point winning performance over visiting Altrincham Kersal to move up to fourth in Regional Two North West on Saturday afternoon at Port-e-Chee.

Promisingly, the result came without the Manx side being at their complete best.

On the back of a solid scrum, pinpoint lineout and ideal rugby conditions, Douglas cut loose early on with left wing Oli Corkish scoring a second-minute try, only to be pegged back by a fourth-minute Simon Gallimore penalty to leave the score at 5-3.

Harry Cartwright bamboozled the visitors’ defence with a surging and curving 13th-minute run to score, converted by Matty Wood, and scrum-half Craig Martin darted in after 25 minutes, again converted by Wood for 19-3.

The loss of Nathan Robson for a couple of mandatory weeks following an HIA assessment last week was ably covered by Martin, and although Gallimore converted a penalty on the half-hour mark for the Greater Manchester side, the influential Jonty Cope’s score was the bonus point try with only 36 minutes played.

This was again converted by Wood to give the Manx side a 26-6 advantage.

Altrincham winger Adebo was yellow-carded for a clumsy challenge on an airborne Cartwright, but AK captain Anton Dauncey drove over for a try on the cusp of half-time that was converted by Gallimore for 26-13 during a period where Douglas weren’t making all the right calls.

But any second-half AK expectations were dashed when man of the match Cartwright bagged a second and Kyle Martin raced in for a hat-trick of tries all borne from pace.

Hooker Josh Campbell was again completely in tune with his Douglas lineout catchers where back-rowers Ian Larson and Liam Kirkpatrick excelled, and with John Dutnall and Liam Kirkpatrick thundering forward, Douglas were imperious.

Larson earned a rare Douglas blemish with a yellow card, Blake Everson, Will Cain and Rob Todd off the bench added more impetus, and centre Harry Hewson capped a useful afternoon with a 70th-minute try.

Wood rattled over four conversions and a penalty for a 17-point contribution with the boot and capped the club’s largest margin of victory in the national leagues since November 2017.

Douglas squad: Simon Hoddinott, Josh Campbell, Owen Carvin, Harry Cartwright, Blake Snell (cap), John Dutnall, Ian Larson, Liam Kirkpatrick, Craig Martin, Matty Wood, Kyle Martin, Josh Duncan, Harry Hewson, Oli Corkish, Jonty Cope, Rob Todd, Blake Everson, Will Cain

- Douglas now have a week off from league action before travelling to Greater Manchester and Burnage on Saturday, October 4.

Two home games follow against Winnington Park on October 11 and Northwich on October 18 before another away trip rounds out the month, this time to Merseyside and Birkenhead Park on Saturday, October 25.

TONY WILSON-SPRATT

- Want to showcase your team’s achievements? We offer free publicity for local sports! Email your stories to [email protected] for a chance to be featured in our newspapers and on our websites. Whether it’s match reports, player milestones, or upcoming events, we’d love to share your news.