Finally at the third attempt Penrith managed a home win. The scoreline suggests a comfortable win, which it was eventually but for three quarters of the game they did their best to contrive to throw it away.
They did not have the best of starts, the Waterloo kickoff was knocked on and that was the only touch of the ball the home side have before going behind as Waterloo won the scrum on the 10m line, and moved and recycled the ball through a dozen or more phases until they scored in the corner.
Penrith came straight back at them but could do anything but score, a number of gold plated chances went begging wide out as balls were dropped and over ambitious long passes were slung aimlessly out. The home forwards were totally in charge as they took scrums against the head and lineouts off the visitors throw, but all to no avail as they grew impatient and tried to score with every move and make the killer pass every time the ball came out. Then when on the run of play the Cumbrians should have been cruising they went further behind, possession was kicked away and when Waterloo ran the ball back the defence was loose and their enterprise saw them score a try in the corner, the conversion gave them a 12 point lead.
Waterloo then tried to extend their lead with a long range penalty but it drifted wide, on half time they attempted a drop goal, the ball was struck flat and was taken by Gavin Cartmel who ran the ball back, when the clearance kick was hoisted Mike Hawley and Tom Armstrong chased hard and were rewarded when the winger was beaten by a cruel bounce, the ball came back to Hawley who just had time to flip it back inside to Armstrong who made the corner. Penrith's chances looked much better at 5-12 rather than than the 15 point deficit they wuld have had to face if the drop goal had gone over, they also had the wind at their backs.
The second half was only two minutes old when they fell further behind, the ball was lost in midfield and hacked ahead, failure to deal with the bouncing ball cost them a try in the corner and they were 12 points adrift. The home side did then step up a gear and put some basic rugby together, a penalty to the corner saw them throw into the line 5m out, they won it with ease and rather too easily bundled Rob Dawson over for an unconverted try. They continued to pressure the visitors and cut the lead to 2 points when Armstrong fielded a poor clearance just outside the 22, he broke four tackles before releasing Cartmel for a clear run in.
Penrith took the lead from the restart, the kick off was secured and the ball fed to Steve Wood who kicked the ball long with the wind, the Waterloo defence made a hash of dealing with it under pressure from David Barton and he was able to get hold of the ball and put Hawley away who went in at the corner. They now had their noses in front but it didn't last long, Waterloo won a 5m scrum and the ball was not controlled at the base, the visitors No8 had to turn to gather the ball and they looked to be no danger but everyone left the tackling to someone else and he managed to weave his way over for a soft try.
The game now entered the final quarter and Penrith really made their obvious superiority count and scored four tries to amass 27 points to kill the game off, Armstrong scored his second as Wood put him in after a good passage of play. David Barton then scored a well deserved hat trick as the backs really clicked and Wood and Hawley weaved their magic.
This hard earned win moved Penrith to third in the table but they will face a true test next week when they travel to unbeaten Stockport who broke their hearts in the final game of last season.