Penrith played their final warm up game last Saturday before travelling to St Benedicts in the first round of the cup. It was a torturous journey through the roadworks on the A1 and they arrived there just half an hour before kick, Alnwick play in the equivalent league in the North East so they expected a good contest and it is exactly what they got.
The rushed preparations after the late arrival didn't affect the Penrith side who started at a real lick and were soon on the scoresheet after some good possession rugby, a long pass was thrown and Jamie McNaughton hit a good line in the outside centre channel up from fullback and split the home defence like a hot knife through butter. He stepped the full back to score a classy try and Penrith looked set fair. They might have scored again in the first half as they piled on the pressure but again gave the opposition free field position by giving away a string of penalties at the breakdown. Alnwick came more and more into the game and eventually levelled the scores right at the end of the half following a chip and chase to the corner.
The second half was just as competitive but it was the home side who took the lead after Penrith lost possession rather too easily and conceded a bit of a soft try. Penrith soon countered with a second try of their own, good chasing by Josh Dowson saw him tackle the last defender into the deadball area as he attempted a clearance kick earning a 5m scrum for his forwards. New prop Arran Sullivan again impressed and was a big part of the Penrith effort as they shunted their opposite numbers back over their line for a pushover try by Ryan Johnson, which is a pretty rare event in current Penrith rugby club history.
The Cumbrians went behind again as they lost their own scrum on their 22 and some shoddy tackling let in another soft try, again they came back and again Dowson was the catalyst. He beat the outside centre for pace on the outside down the right wing and was stopped short by the last defender. The ball was then whipped left and good hands by forwards Johnson and then Phil Gardham gave McNaughton a run at the opposite corner and he just squeezed in. Both sides then had chances but the home side, with a greater number of fresh legs on the bench finished the stronger and although it finished three tries each they ran out winners with one more conversion.
The coaching staff were frustrated at the number of penalties conceded and a number of wrong options taken but on reflection there was probably more god than bad, the set scrum looks solid and a number of the senior squad players were missing and among them some of the better strike runners among the forwards. The real test will be at Benedicts at the weekend