Penrith approached the County Cup Final against Carlisle at Wigton with some confidence knowing they had played at a level higher all season but did not expect an easy ride. Initially it looked as if they might win at a canter but in the end it turned out to be a tense nail-biting affair. The game was not played in the best of conditions with a strong wind blowing down the field and a hard, badly rutted pitch, Penrith had first use of the following wind and used it to their advantage.
Carlisle started aggressively with ball in hand and took the game to Penrith however they looked a little more fragile in defence. Penrith went ahead as early as the third minute, they took the first scrum against the head on their own 10m line when they shunted the Carlisle pack off the ball, Mike Raine broke from No8 and the ball was moved via David Preston, Gav Cartmel and Mike Hawley to Joe Nattrass on the wing who clipped the ball over the cover up the middle of the field, the ball ended up just short of the try line and when the final defender failed to deal with it Hawley was on hand to snap up the bouncing ball to score, Steve Wood added the conversion.
Penrith lost Preston for ten minutes following some backchat to the officials but they extended their lead in his absence, their 14 men were able to pin the city side back with the aid of the wind, Sandy
Kerridge initiated the next score when he fielded a clearance kick, the ball was quickly spun to the left and when Nattrass was caught on the wing he made the ball available and it quickly came back left where Penrith's pacey hooker, "man of the match", James Thornton found himself up against his opposite numbers in the Carlisle front row and burst through the centre for a fine try, Wood again converted.
Penrith continued to turn the screw, a raking Wood kick with the wind rolled into touch close to the try line. Although the city side won the lineout Mike Stephens was sharp enough to catch the Carlisle stand off who spilt the ball and they had a 5m scrum. Raine broke from No8 and made the line and was held up, they had a second 5m scrum and again Raine broke but this time he cleverly stood the ball up for big Ryan Johnson who powered over. Wood missed the conversion but within three
minutes he was successful with another. The Carlisle midfield were robbed of the ball in attack on half way, the ball went quickly to the left to Nattrass who made progress up the left, when he was stopped the ball was moved across the midfield where Thornton took the ball at pace off the shoulder of Stephens, made the break that looked as if he was going to grab his second try but was hauled down just short. Paul Newton was on hand to finish the move, this try in a showpiece final
was just reward for his consistently outstanding performances all season.
At this stage Penrith were 26-0 up in as many minutes and looked as if they could run away with it, Carlisle were far from beaten and came back strongly rocking them back on their heels with two well taken tries by their talented backs. The wind made the conversions virtually impossible but they had hauled themselves back into the game and with the wind at their backs in the second half it was anything but over.
Penrith realising all was to play for pounded the city line as the half drew to a close, they had a scrum and lineout on the line and eventually scored when they ran a penalty 5m out. Several drives were
stopped just short before a Thornton dummy and go found the gap and he crossed for his second score.
As the half ended Penrith had injury worries, Thornton looked to have badly injured his knee but managed to soldier on, Wood who was carrying a hamstring problem couldn't despite his best efforts. James Ellar moved to up stand off from full back for the second half, Cartmel moved back to full back and the vastly experienced Gavin Young came on at inside centre to shore up the defence.
It was a true game of two halves and Penrith spent much of the second period happy to stem the Carlisle flow. They slotted an early penalty to narrow the gap and midway through the half gave themselves hope with a third try. Steve Dixon was yellow carded for a hand in the ruck as Penrith defended desperately and when Carlisle won a 5m scrum on the Penrith line his absence was felt when they conceded a pushover try. The conversion brought the city side within two scores but that was as good as it got for them as the Penrith rearguard just about handled everything they threw at them, as the game drew to a close Penrith were happy to drive the ball up through the forwards to kill the game and despite a few scares saw the game out and saw captain Rob Dawson lift the cup for the second year in sucession and five times in ten years. A fitting end to the club's most successful season finishing in their highest ever league position.