After the final home game of his term of office as Penrith Club President,
Mike Arragon declared himself very proud of his side as he had a right
to be. They had produced probably their best performance of the season,
seen the threat of relegation off with some style and put a Darlington
side, who were much better than the score suggested, to the sword. The
whole squad had a good day but none more so than mercurial stand off
Steve Wood who ran the game from beginning to end.
It was one of those days when the home side could do no wrong, they had
one or two of the other sorts of days so it was a nice way to finish,
they attacked with flair and defended with determination. They were off
the mark as early as the second minute with a Wood penalty, Ed Swale's
sharp thinking brought them their first try, the covering winger
knocked on Wood's cross field kick into touch. Swale gathered the ball
and his quick lineout found Mike Hawley on the run and he was away and
under the posts before the visitor's defence reacted. Wood's conversion
and then a second penalty stretched the lead further and despite having
to soak up some periods of Darlington possession they then created
chances as the first half drew to a close.
The visitors missed touch with a penalty out of their own 22, Ian
McDowell took the ball securely and it was moved quickly to the left
wing where Simon Davidson's pace took him around the outside, he then
had the composure to draw the final defender and feed the ball inside
to Hawley in support who romped in. Wood again converted and was then
instrumental in the build up to the final score of the half, he
wriggled through a gap on the 22, pulled in all the cover before
slipping the pass back inside to James Sanderson on his shoulder who
was in under the posts.
Wood converted for a 27 point half time advantage which rather
flattered the home side but they had been rewarded for some high
quality rugby. Darlington started the second period in much more
determined mode and after a period of pressure forced their way over in
the corner. The touchline conversion may have been their way back into
the game but from the restart Ryan Johnson made sure that was not the
case, he chased the ball hard, made two tackles before charging down a
scrambled clearance kick for Mike Stephens to pile over after being set
up by Davidson.
Wood was to set up the next score, play was on half way and had moved
to the left, as the ball came right there had been a bit of an
altercation which had drawn in some of the visting defence and a huge
gap was left up the middle of the field, Wood needed no further
invitation and made inroads before finding Davidson with a long pass to
the left wing, he didn't look favourite when he received the ball but
he easily outstripped the cover to score under the sticks.
At 41-7 the game as a contest was over but it certainly wasn't as a
spectacle, the visitors scored a well taken try and were pressing again
when Hawley made an interception and ran from his own 22 for his
hat-trick try. As Darlington pressed again the referee to everyone's
surprise awarded a penalty try, but Hawley was not finished. A Gavin
Cartmel break with Mike Raine in support set him over for his fourth
and Penrith's seventh try of the afternoon. A more than pleasing end to
a see saw season, Penrith are now free to concentrate on defending
their County Championship title, they face a trip to Carlisle in the
semi-final which is due to be played mid week.