LANCASHIRE began the defence of their County Championship title in emphatic style, with nine tries at the Woodlands, including a hat-trick from captain Chris Johnson.

Three Sedgley Tigers men – Matt Riley, Louis McGowan and Matt Lamprey – were included in the starting line up at the home of Fylde RUFC with another, prop Ben Black, injured in the warm-up to deny him a place.

And Riley was the first Lancastrian to get on the scoresheet after an early Ali Blair try had opened the scoring for the visitors in tricky conditions.

He went over the line after a final offload from Fylde’s Chris Briers.

Warren Spragg found a gap to score between the posts, allowing Johnson to kick his first points of the day, while the captain added his first try only two minutes later.

However, Northumberland retained an edge and scrum-half Tom Banks was able to take the Lancashire defence by surprise at a scrum to score.

He added his second try three minutes later and after his conversion, Northumberland were 19-17 ahead.

But Lancashire were able to take an advantage at the break, as Johnson accepted a clever reverse pass from Ryan De La Harpe to score between the posts.

The second half began with Sean Taylor picking up a loose ball on the right wing to score in the corner.

Johnson earned the match ball with a try between the posts, which he converted for a 34-19 scoreline, before setting up Spragg for his second.

Johnson was withdrawn for Sedgley’s Steve Collins with 20 minutes left and he made an instant impact, offloading to Briers who scored.

With 10 minutes to play, Oli Brennand rounded it off with the last try.

Lancashire head coach Mark Nelson said: “There were some really good passages of play, and we will take heart from that going in to what looks like being a crunch game over at Scarborough on Saturday.”

The squad, which includes nine Tigers players – Black, Collins, Riley, McGowan, Lamprey, Juan Crous, Jamie Harrison, Callum McShane and Mike Waywell – heads to Scarborough on Saturday, before rounding the three-match series off against Cheshire at Sedgley Park on May 24.