Penrith's topsey turvey season continued with a disappointing defeat at
Waterloo, they travelled with eight wins under their belt before this
fixture compared to their host's two so could reasonably expect to come
away with something, albeit hard won, as there are no easy games at
this level. It was far from easy as Penrith made problems amain for
themselves, mostly through lack of commitment, standing off the
opposition and not giving them the respect they deserved.
It started well enough, after only five minutes following a bind side
break by Paul Newton they won a penalty in front of the posts, everyone
and the home defence in particular thought Steve Wood was going for the
easy option of three points. Joe Nattrass, one of the few who have an
inkling of what he is going to do next positioned himself on the left
touchline, Wood took the quick tap, accurately chipped the ball to the
wing and Nattrass had the easy task of stepping back inside the only
defender for the opening try.
The next quarter of an hour was abject as Penrith conceded three
converted tries, the first two were well enough worked but owed much to
the Cumbrians inability to up their aggression and work ethic to match
the home side. The third was a gift wrapped interception on half way.
They did improve from there and worked their way back into the game and
were able to put the home defence under some pressure. Some good hard
work by the forwards made room for the backs, Nattrass should have been
put away the first time the ball came left but the ball was recycled
and the second time the opportunity arose James Ellar did the right
thing and put him clear, he evaded a couple of tackles to go in at the
corner.
At half time although 21 - 10 down Penrith had come back into the game
and now looked the better side, a good start to the second period and
the game was for the taking. Exactly the opposite happened, they
conceded a converted try from the kick off a school boy side would be
ashamed of and then shipped a penalty to go 31 - 10 down. They then
went a further three points down as Waterloo goaled another penalty and
all looked lost.
At this stage they threw caution to the wind and looked a different
team, the forwards drove into the rucks and mauls as if they meant it
and the backs moved the ball at every opportunity, looked dangerous and
were rewarded for their endeavour. A sweeping passage of play saw Gavin
Cartmel squeeze between two defenders for a converted try. With the
home defence under the cosh a quickly taken penalty by Newton and a
darting run saw him sneak in. Wood's cnversion from wide and a penalty
was them pull back to within a converted try of a draw as the game went
into the last ten minutes.
The home side then pulled themselves together and to their credit
played some possession rugby to kill off the game. Penrith got more
desperate and tried to run from deeper and deeper and conceded another
penalty to give the home side a ten point cushion they probably
deserved.
Few players added to their reputations on this poor afternoon, the
front row of Carr, Macnamara and Irving all punched their weight,
skipper Mike raine had one of his better games and Newton was again
very assured. The two replaceements, Gardham and Rumney both tried to
make a difference when they came on but some of the others can look to
their laurels. If the effort is not upped for the visit of Stockport
next week there could be real problems.