Penrith's recent history in the county cup is poor, they'd gone out to lower league sides in the previous four seasons and Saturday's cup semi final at Carlisle was to prove no different. They produced a well below par performance and could have no argument with the home side's progress into the final.
Carlisle had first use of a strong breeze blowing away from the clubhouse and used it pretty well to keep the visitors penned in their own half throughout the first 40 minutes. There was a fine rain in the wind and that caused both sides to be circumspect in their play and only on rare occasions was the ball moved wide and most of the game was taken up by the two sets of forwards trying to out muscle each other.
Penrith were going through the motions but their game lacked urgency and pace and a well motivated Carlisle side were not going to be brushed aside by simply running the ball up. Something more inventive would be required and certainly something more than just trundling the ball up at close quarters.
Carlisle stuck to their task throughout and soaked up all the visitors could muster, they did not offer much more themselves but they gave it their all and bit by bit it began to pay off. They took the lead with a penalty after a period of pressure in the Penrith 22, they looked to have worked an opening for the winger but Jamie McNaughton at fullback just managed to bundle him into touch by the corner flag but the referee took play back to an earlier offence head on to the posts and that was a three point lead.
Ryan Johnson made one of the few line breaks in the game to take play into the Carlisle half, the home side were penalised at the breakdown and the penalty was put to the corner for an attacking lineout. The Penrith pack secured the ball and drove the ball to the line but were held up, when the ball was moved to the three quarters it was spilt and the danger was over.
Carlisle had a second penalty shot but that went wide and as the half drew to a close they again pressed on the Penrith line. They were awarded a penalty in the corner and elected to take a set scrum, there was a school of thought before the game that the city side would be dominant at the set piece but it proved to be an evenly fought battle. This scrum was no different and although Carlisle easily won the ball they could not put the squeeze on their opposite numbers.
They moved the ball and put it through the phases, all hard up to the visitor's line, and eventually their hard work paid off as they worked a gap to dive over close to the posts, the conversion was a simple affair and they had a ten point lead which they held till the break.
Penrith did start the second half a little brighter, they had a very optimistic penalty shot from within their own half after two minutes which fell short. Decent rugby was in very short supply but they then produced their best move of the day, Josh Dowson, off the blind side wing, made the extra man and put McNaughton away. He cut through and hit the 22 before trying to find George Graham on the inside but the pass went astray. Penrith did get a score after Graham in the thick of things took a quick tap penalty to try and put a bit of pace on the game but was halted well before ten metres and Mike Fearon opted to kick for the posts, the kick went over to reduce the deficit.
That was as good as it got for the visitors, they looked as if at some stage they might click into gear and take the game by the scruff of the neck but it never quite happened. Carlisle were more than good enough to contain whatever the visitors came up with and caused enough problems to come up with a second sucessful penalty of their own. As the game went into the final ten minutes they struck another penalty for a 13 point cushion, the visitors needed two converted tries but they hadn't look likely to break the shackles in the first 70 minutes and they didn't look like it in the final ten either.