Penrith were not quite sure what to expect of visitors Westoe on Saturday, they had had an excellent home win against Northern the week before but the week before that had shipped 65 points at Aspatria. It quickly became apparent they were in damage limitation mode as before even the first 10 minutes had expired they were slowing the game as much as they could, walking to the lineouts and scrums and making the most of any minor injuries.
Penrith got a score on 10 minutes, an Andy Muir charge up the middle made ground and the ball was then spun quickly wide to the left and Jamie McNaughton, off the blind side wing, made the extra man and took the scoring pass off Matty Boustead to score in the corner. They were then frustrated for a while, Fraser Nicolson did push the score along with a penalty on the 22 head on to the posts but they couldn't break free. Their second score finally came from deep in their own half when they won turn over ball on their 22. George Graham found Mike Fearon and he hoisted the ball into space, McNaughton won the chase to the ball, hacked it on, then got a nice bounce when the ball popped up in his path and he raced in under the posts.
The home side then scored again almost immediately, they got Nicolson in space on the left, he was able to take the ball at pace and beat a couple of defenders before turning the ball back inside to Joe Spencely, on debut, in the centre and he ran in unopposed. They then scored the bonus point try from the restart, Sam Wilson and Adam Howe put in the hard yards then the ball went to the backs and Boustead this time supplied the scoring pass to Nick Dudson.
Penrith added a fifth try just before the break, again the forwards did the donkey work and created the space for Boustead and Dudson to work Nicolson into a try scoring position. Westoe then probably had their best period of the game as they played out the remainder of the first half deep in the home 22, winning a succession of penalties and hammering on the home line, the defence was good but got a little desperate as a yellow card reduced them to 14. They dug deep and a number of last ditch tackles kept their line intact before an away knock on ended the half.
Penrith turned round 34 points to the good and soon added to them when Fearon set up Spencely on the 22, he broke the first line of defence and charged straight up the middle for his second try. Fearon almost created the next try with a cross field kick to the corner but the defenders scrambled it into touch for a Penrith lineout 5m out. Craig Price found Archie Rattray jumping at the front of the line, they set up the driven maul and Howe came up with the try his afternoon's work richly deserved.
The Cumbrian's final score came from a clearance kick fielded by McNaughton, he danced down the touchline to the 22 and then found Rattray with an inside pass and it was clear he was not going to be stopped and he scored under the posts.
The final minutes of the second period were similar to the first as the visitors were camped deep in the home 22, strung a lot of phases together, won a number of penalties and put the Penrith line under pressure, the home defence however held firm and showed a determination not to concede.
Penrith have scored 184 points in their last three games which is not ideal preparation for what's looking like their most important game of the season next week away at unbeaten league leaders, Morpeth. It will be a different sort of rugby altogether but they need to win this game if they are to challenge for the title as it's looking very unlikely that any other side in this league will beat them.