Penrith kick started their season with a much improved performance over a Rochdale side who were top of the table after the first round of games. The home side again showed they can attack scoring six tries to add to the four they scored in their losing opener at Vale of Lune but more importantly also showed they can also defend, only conceding one try and that in the final ten minutes when the game as a contest was well over.
Penrith started on the front foot but the visitors defended well, the home side kept getting themselves into good positions and then getting penalised to release the pressure they were trying to build and it was the visitors who opened the scoring with a penalty on a rare incursion into the home 22.
It was still Penrith who were making the running and they took the lead when the Lancashire club were penalised for delaying the throw into the lineout. Some 30m out captain Tama Toomata tapped and went, he made inroads as did James Hogg before Toomata took the ball again well into the 22. The ball then came to the backs and Mike Fearon cut a line back towards the breakdown, broke the defensive line and picked his way over for an unconverted try and a 5-3 lead.
The Cumbrians were now looking dangerous and no more so than when the visitors cleared their lines and found Jamie McNaughton at fullback, he was having a field day running the ball back, he regularly beat four or five men before being halted. Also in his element was veteran scrum half Paul Newton in for the injured Ed Swale, he was organising the forwards and running the game and put it all into place as the home side claimed their second try. They threw to an attacking lineout on the Rochdale 22, Toomata took the ball at the tail and set up the driving maul, they inched forward with Newton orchestrating events, they reset the drive several times before crabbing towards the corner and Newton took the ball to pop down the narrow side for the simplest of tries and Fearon's well struck conversion pulled out the lead.
Penrith were in the ascendancy but a number of errors stopped them adding to their lead until the stroke of half time when they won a scrum against the head on the Rochdale 22. Ryan Johnson broke blind and set up a series of forward drives that got to the line but couldn't quite breach the stubborn defence. The ball then came left to the backs and Matt Allinson floated an excellent wide pass to Steven Cherry on the wing who went around the outside of a defensive line waiting for another forward drive.
Penrith reached the break with a 17-3 advantage for which they were good value, they received the restart kick and scored from it which virtually sealed the game. The kick was taken by Will Morgan, who has wonderful hands for a prop, who turned it inside to Toomata. He then made more ground than he had any right to breaking a number of tackles taking play into the opposition half, a bullocking run by Mike Stephens made more ground and when the ball came to Fearon he spotted the gap, made the break and looked to be clean through. He was just caught but found Phil Gardham in support who couldn't escape the last tackler, Craig Price made the extra man and trundled in at the corner for an excellent team try. Fearon hit another conversion from wide out and the game as a contest was all but over.
Sedbergh schoolboy scrum half Richard Addison had come off the bench just before half time and was to electrify the game in the second half on the right wing. Toomata after a storming run down the wing almost set the try up for him but he turned out to be provider as he chased a well placed Newton kick that rolled to a halt just before the visitors line, there were two defenders but Addison managed to tackle them both before Newton, following up his own kick was able to snap up the loose ball and bag his second try.
Addison then made and scored a try of his own, put into space on the wing he chipped the defence and set off to try and outpace the cover. He didn't look favourite as the last defender got to the ball first and went to touch it down only to connect with his knee first and send the ball squirting towards the deadball line, the youngster was alive to the situation and was able to reach the ball before it ran out of play for his first senior try.
Fearon's conversion was Penrith's final score of the afternoon and the game drifted towards its close with the visitors finally exerting a bit of pressure in the home side's 22. Their most potent weapon was the forward drive which did make some inroads and they eventually got the points that gave the score a more reasonable look from their point of view.
Paul Newton was named Man of the Match and deserved the accolade but it could easily have been another, McNaughton put in a really classy performance at fullback and Toomata's appetite for work both in attack and defence was insatiable. The coaching staff would be pleased that their young side won so well with so much left to work on.