On a miserable wet and windy day at Winters Park Penrith secured
victory by a comfortable margin against relegation strugglers
Billingham. This may have been all too predictable but all the talk
after the game was how a three try to nil win had been negotiated
against a side that had played so well, they looked nothing like a team
that had only won two games all season, and those against rock bottom
Rochdale. They played some wonderful open running rugby in atrocious
conditions and went close to scoring on several occasions, their
endeavour was not rewarded with the points it deserved.
A lot of credit has got to go to the home defence for their
organisation and resilience, Billingham spent long periods of
possession in their 22 and were not able to cross the line once.
Several passes were dropped in try scoring positions and this was their
downfall, their game plan consisted of moving the ball at every
opportunity, spinning it wide and passing and moving. All very well on
a decent day but fraught with problems on a mucky miserable wet January
afternoon at Penrith and passes inevitably went down and the home side
profited from this.
Billingham started the game at break neck speed, the home side looked
as if they'd had the two hour bus journey. They were camped in the home
22 and had two penalties in front of the posts in the first ten
minutes, one just inside the 22 and one just outside, both went
narrowly wide. Penrith then scored totally against the run of play,
Billingham spilt a pass virtually on the Penrith line which was hacked
upfield by Gavin Cartmel, he hacked on again well into the visitors
half but could not win the chase to the ball, the defending winger
secured the ball but was tackled by the chasing backs and possession
was won and spun right quickly before the defence was organised with
Ryan Johnson popping up on the wing and having the easy task of running
in the try.
The previous pattern of play then resumed with the visitors pressing
and although they went close to crossing for a try they didn't quite
manage, they did win another penalty which this time they goaled to cut
the lead to only two points. From the kick off Penrith secured
possession and the forwards drove to the 22, the visitors were
penalised and some back chat sent them back another 10 metres to give
James Ellar an easy penalty shot, he obliged to restore the lead.
Penrith made half time with their 8-3 advantage intact and as they
turned round with the wind at their backs were more than happy with the
situation having defended most of the first half. They were even
happier three minutes later as the forwards drove up to the 22, the
ball went right, David Preston put his basketball skills to good use
and the slickness and speed of his pass put Johnson in acres of space,
he made ground almost to the line and his astute inside pass saw Gary
Hodgson crash over.
At 13-3 up and the wind behind them the Cumbrians looked pretty secure
but with ten minutes to go the ever game visitors kicked a penalty and
were within a converted try of a draw. They threw the ball about in an
attempt to steal the game but again a pass went astray, Mike Hawley
hacked on and as the ball was hacked over the line Gavin Cartmel was
held back and the referee quite correctly awarded a penalty try. Ellar
slotted the conversion for a scoreline that flattered the home side,
Billingham had played their hearts out but with no Plan B for a wet
wild day were snookered.
Penrith had good performances throughout the team, Preston had his most
influential game for some time, Gavin Young showed his class despite
only being called up 24 hours before the game and only having a few
second team games under his belt this season The stand out performance
however was by Paul Newton at scrum half who in the absence of Steve
Wood ran the game, made some timely tackles and was at his usual
efficent best.