On Saturday Penrith had a break from league rugby and played Whitehaven in the first round of the Cumbria Cup. It was the first blank weekend in the league fixtures and Penrith were a man short who had made other arrangements unaware of thegame. On top of being two leagues below their visitors the West Cumbrians were quite a number short as the result of a wedding so what would have been a difficult task for them was made near impossible. That is not to take anything away from them, because even if the scoreline does not suggest it, they played with great spirit competing from start to finish and at times having the better of the play.
The game started at a hundred miles an hour and Penrith's over eagerness to take the game to their opponents lead to a rash of simple mistakes and it was the home side that took the lead with a deserved penalty. Penrith were then a little more circumspect and played the ball tight through the forwards which resulted in a try by lock Rob Dawson, of the twelve tries scored this was the only one scored by a forward which is a reflection on how the game developed.
Whitehaven were able to compete up front and just about hold their own against the visitors pack short of one or two experienced heads, they had no chance in the backs however as they could not match the quality and pace of the young Penrith fliers. Tries came at regular intervals with David Barton next to score. Gavin Cartmel grabbed his first, of four, when Joe Nattrass was brought down just short, before Whitehaven notched another penalty .James Ellar and Mike Hawley, with two were the scorers before the break with Steve Wood converting five of them, he was only to miss one kick all afternoon.
Penrith mixed things up at half time and brought on Phil Fell, Sandy Kerridge and Jake Edgar, this trio provided as much pace if not more than in the first period and Edgar made an impressive debut at scrum half. Six tries came after the break, Cartmel added another three and Barton one more with Nattrass and Fell also getting on the scoresheet.
One of the big plusses of the day for the visitors was the emergance at prop of Aussie Andrew Mcnamara making his debut after turning up at the club only three weeks since. The 22 year old from down under ran the ball in hard, made some really big hits and looked comfortable in the scrummage and has appeared at just the right time as Penrith are having problems in this area with injuries and niggles. They had teenagers in the front row, second row and back row. Gearge Birtles made an impessive start at open side, Phil Gardham worked hard in the second row and Tom Mooney had a much better chance to bed in at hooker than in the pitched battle at Rossendale the week before.
Penrith can be happy they came and did a job but Whitehaven were to be admired for the spirit the game was played in and the way they stuck to their task when they knew they were really up against it.