Penrith 2 Barnard Castle 4

Sunday 19th October 2014
Penrith 2 V Barnard Castle 4
Team :-Jacob Batey, Harry Chambers, Luke Coggins (man of the Match), Declan Devaney, Llewelyn Giggs, Tom Hill, Jonny Hope, Elliot Judge, Spencer Lancaster, Samuel Nelson, Declan Parkinson(Captain), Bailey Potts, Connor Robinson, Liam Scott, Mathew Thompson, Thomas Wear, Adam Wilson.
With the scheduled away match at Millom postponed a hastily arranged home friendly against Barnard Castle was played on Sunday. The morning was greeted with typical Cumbrian weather for this time of the year, with wet blustery conditions. The effect on the ball soon became apparent from kick-off with much fumbling by both sides.
This resulted in regular scrums with Barnard Castle proving to be marginally stronger and winning the ball on more occasions, eventually breaking and scoring their first try.
When Penrith managed to move the ball out away from the centre Luke Coggins put several spirited forward runs in earning him the man of the match. On his first run forward the team got to within metres of the try line and a strong drive forward allowed Connor Robinson to scramble the ball over the line to level the score.
Minutes away from half time Penrith were penalised for a hand in the ruck and Barnard Castle took full advantage of the possession and with some lacklustre tackling scored their second try.
The second half saw Barnard Castle come off the blocks that little bit quicker than Penrith and they added a third try. Penrith rallied and took the game straight back to their opponents. Whilst under pressure deep in their own half Spencer Lancaster coolly kicked the ball out of danger and up the centre of the field. In the ensuing chase Luke Coggins tackle returned the ball to Penrith possession allowing Jacob Batey to power over the line and score Penrith`s second try.
Playing a team like Barnard Castle always brings the best out of this Penrith team and this game was no exception. They continued to play with real spirit and really fought back looking to add to the score sheet.
This was not to be the day as in the closing minutes of the game Barnard Castle were awarded a scrum 5 metres from the try line. Penrith held on and the ball went out of play for a line out in Penrith`s favour. A Penrith pass was intercepted by a quick thinking opponent who managed to evade several tacklers to score.
This was one of the best games I have seen Penrith play against Barnard Castle over the last couple of seasons and Barnard Castle really had to work hard to achieve the score line.
This coming Sunday sees a return match at Barnard Castle so watch this space.