Everyone at Winters Park was expecting a tough match against long time league leaders and now second placed Morpeth. The reverse fixture in November in the North East had been a real slog with the Cumbrians just edging it and hanging on desperately at the death.
The first half followed the pattern of that game with Morpeth having plenty of possession and using single first up runner to try and break the home defensive line, as in the away game the Penrith defence stood up and generally stopped the crash ball runners on the gain line and when in possession themselves attempted to use a little more guile and pace which did trouble the visitors.
They opened the scoring after eight minutes, George Graham took a quick tap penalty on his own 22, made it almost to halfway when the ball was shifted sharpish to the left where Jamie McNaughton and Fraser Nicolson took play to the visitor's 22. After a couple of forward drives the ball came into midfield and Joe Spencely set up Archie Rattray who left three tacklers in his wake as his determined run took him from the 22 to the line.
The home side scored again almost from the restart, a Graham kick into the visitor's 22 was cleared but was run straight back by Nicolson, his forwards gained a few more yards before Graham sniped down the right, made the half break and flipped the ball to Sam Wilson on his outside who ran in unopposed.
Penrith were 14 points to the good after quarter of an hour and then proceeded to waste three or four good chances and when the visitors kicked a penalty at the end of the half the game seemed far from over at 14-3 when the sides changed ends.
The home supporters needn't have worried as their side started the second period as they had the first, on the front foot. The forwards were pounding the line in the clubhouse corner when Chris Jackson broke clean through the defensive line some five yards out and crashed over. The bonus point try came after 15 minutes, a penalty was kicked to the corner and the Cumbrians didn't set up the usual driven maul but drove individually for the line until Graham put some width on the ball, Mike Fearon found Spencely in midfield with a long pass and Rob Coward hit the space just outside him at pace, the pass was timed to perfection and Coward sprinted in under the posts and was then mobbed by all his teammates as he scored on his 18th birthday.
That was in effect game set and match as Morpeth were still struggling to make any inroads into the home defences and as the game went into the last quarter the home side with their tails up and full of confidence ran riot and ran in another four tries.
Spencely having been provider picked up a try when the visitors lost possession on their 10m line, he snapped it up and blasted past the first line of defence and shrugged off the cover to barge his way over the line. Spencely and McNaughton combined wide on the left in a sweeping move to send Nicolson round the outside on the overlap to score. Wilson picked up a second after another sweeping move down the left and Spencely again was the provider as the ball came right from a scum in the 22 and McNaughton picked up a gift wrapped try from his nicely weighted pass.
One of the most pleasing aspects for the home side was the performance of their teenagers, Rattray and Coward were both rewarded with tries but Dylan Thompson also impressed with his fantastic work rate and physicality both in attack and defence.
Penrith far exceeded their expectations and had a one of those wonderful afternoons when almost everything comes off. They now need 12 points from their final four games to guarantee them the league title and the first is at Carlisle who are without a win. The city side though have a habit of putting out their best side of the season and coming up with their best performance against their neighbours down the A6 so they cannot be treat lightly.