"Forewarned is forearmed" so the proverb says. It's fair to say that we, as a team, were not forewarned of the magnitude of this particular occasion until we got to Carlisle. Our embryonic Lancaster team found ourselves playing in front of TV cameras and a crowd of several hundred paying spectators against a team packed with Cumbrian Ex-Pros.
Carlisle have made no secret of their professional ambitions, their intentions being to use this league as a stepping stone towards the higher echelons of the game. Their squad reflected these ambitions and their players read like the who's who of Cumbrian RL - famous names such as the Murdoch family and several amateur internationals.
Considering the experience of some members of the Lancaster squad (several completely new to the game) the result - a heroic 56-6 loss was made all the more remarkable against a team of this quality.
On the playing front, many positives could be drawn from this match. Our excellent scrambling defence led by Si Ledwick saved several more would-be tries, even though the result of the game was clearly going Carlisle's way. This never-say-die spirit bodes well for the rest of the season.
Ben Burns made a sensational start to his League career, and was unfortunate not to get over the whitewash with one of his pacy breaks. Ben should surely develop into a class act as he learns the intricacies of his new code.
Keith Hartlebury showed the team what a valuable acquisition he is. Keith thoroughly deserved his Man of the Match award, distributing and directing play around the ruck, he was suitably rewarded when he created his own try to score Lancaster's first points.
There are lessons too that need to be, and will be learned. Carlisle dictated the pace of the game from start to finish, our defence was all too often on the backfoot due to the speed of the Carlisle play-the-balls.
An interesting barometer of progress will be the return fixture in mid-June, after we have got a few more games under our belt.
For this week's match (Bolton, away) there will be disruption to the team as the University and Atoms players complete their winter Rugby League commitments. However, every cloud has a silver lining, and those players who didn't make the final 17 for the Carlisle match will get the chance to prove themselves at Bolton.