Penrith completed the first of their two trial games on Saturday against Scottish side Biggar, the second is this Saturday away at North East club Alnwick. Biggar played last season in the second tier of Scottish rugby but were relegated to the third tier, this being the case the home side were not sure just what kind of a challenge they would offer, in the end it turned out to be a closely contested affair and although Penrith ran out winners four tries to one Biggar blew a number of pretty good chances and the score could have been a lot closer.
The game was played over four quarters of 20 minutes with both sides having squads of twenty plus and interchanging players at regular intervals. With it being the first game of the season and the personnel changing on a regular basis the game was a little scrappy and disjointed but the Penrith coaching staff would be well pleased with what they saw. The commitment and endeavour was unquestionable, they defended with great spirit and there was not a tackle shirked. There is still plenty to work on to hone the side but the basics are clearly there.
Penrith made a good start and had an early score, Matt Allinson kicked well all game and put a penalty accurately in the corner for an attacking 5m lineout, the forwards claimed possession and drove for the line at a rate of knots, the big Scottish pack did halt them then Ryan Johnson broke down the blind side and drew in the cover to release Ed Swale who dived over in the corner. That was the only score in the first quarter and Penrith also scored the only try in the second quarter. Allinson made a half break and a couple of offloads out of the tackle, with an especially nice one from Phil Gardham saw John Fell run a good line before releasing to Jonny Wills on the wing, he made ground before being caught by the cover but was able to get the ball away to the supporting Johnson on his inside to finish off the move.
The third quarter was close fought with the home side making life difficult for themselves by giving away a string of penalties, had it not been a trial game they might have found they had players in the bin and playing with 14 men. As it was they spent most of the time on the back foot defending Biggar's lineouts as they kicked the penalties to touch. They finally conceded in the final play of the quarter when a jinking run by the away side's Kiwi three quarter broke the line and got deep enough into the home 22 to force the score.
In the final quarter the coaching team put on what looked their best side and they scored a couple of nice tries. The first came straight off the training ground with Swale looping a set of driving forwards to make the half break and set up the excellent James Boustead. The final try came after good driving play by Tama Toomata and JJ Key, the ball was then whipped wide on the left by Allinson and Boustead with Josh Dowson applying the pace on the wing to run in at the corner to round off a sound performance.
The coaching team would be particularly pleased with the performance of their newcomers, Allinson looked a threat in attack, good with the boot and defended with gusto looking for work all the time, Arran Sullivan would have delighted Ian Thompson with his work at the set scrum, he more than steadied what can be an unstable Penrith scrumage and it was obvious the times he was off the field. Also pleasing was the return of Dowson who didn't play last season because of a shoulder problem, seven months after his corrective operation he looks raring to go.

Squad

Swale Stephens Johnson Price Hogg McNaughton Toomata Morgan Key Boustead Dudson Fell Gardham Richardson Richardson Wills Armstrong Allinson Sullivan Tiffin Dowson Quail Poulson Davis