Penrith play the three unbeaten side in their league in successive games and are now two matches into this sequence of games with one bonus point to show for their efforts. Whilst they could claim they were unlucky not to come away from the Kendal game with a better result they were clearly second best to a well organised, highly motivated Kirkby Lonsdale side. There task will not get any easier away at Warrington next time out who are still unbeaten after grinding out a win at Carlisle last week.
Kirkby got off to an electric start and looked dangerous every time they got the ball, they were ahead as early as the fourth minute. They kicked a penalty to the home 22, their forwards caught and drove from the line out and three phases later they had scored in the corner, their speed of thought and deed and the playing of the ball out of contact left the home defenders struggling to keep up.
Penrith were not for lying down by any stretch of the imagination and were running the ball in through James Hogg, Ryan Johnson and captain Tama Toomata and making the hard yards but not quite showing the sharpness of the opposition. They pulled the lead back to two points following a strong run by Phil Armstrong which put the visitors on the back foot and when they were penalised at the breakdown Matt Allinson struck the penalty to open his side's tally.
Penrith continued to enjoy good periods of possession without really looking dangerous as the visitor's defence held firm, they were caught out when they were turned over in the opposition half, a smart counter attack saw Kirkby get away down the right and score from distance in the corner. The conversion was again missed but the visitors were still a converted try ahead.
At this stage the game was in the balance and Penrith were soon right back in it, the home pack bulldozed the visitors off their own ball, Allinson's cross field punt took play to the Kirkby 22, their back three secured the ball but were then turned over and on the back foot. Toomata spotted the gap close to the breakdown and broke down the side deep into the 22, he was brought down just short of the line. The support secured the ball and Hogg then Ryan Banks shifted the ball smartly to Darren Lee on the wing who was too quick and too strong to be stopped and went in at the corner. The conversion drifted wide but Penrith were within two points.
The game was then won and lost in the ten minutes before half time, Penrith failed to gather the restart and Kirkby took full advantage and scored a converted try, they then stepped up their game and appeared to be able to score at will. They grabbed another two converted tries each scored by their excellent half backs who at that stage were running the show and at 8-31 the game looked out of sight.
Penrith did give themselves a chance on the stroke of half time, Toomata charged down a clearance kick and was able to gather it and almost make the line. The support piled in and after a couple of drives a cross field kick almost resulted in a try but the referee (again a youngster at 19) pulled the game back for a defenders indiscretion. The penalty was only 5m out so with their pack in the ascendancy Penrith opted for the scrum, they shunted the visitors back and the ref had signalled a second penalty when Johnson broke from No8 and went over virtually unopposed.
They started the second half 13-31 down and really had to score early on if they were going to turn the second half into a genuine contest. A searing break by Jamie McNaughton put then on the front foot and Johnson was stopped inches short in the corner before Kirkby then got on top again and played the game in the Penrith half. Penrith's cause was not helped by going down to 14 following a yellow card and then having Scott Lancaster sent off rather softly with 20 minutes to go after reacting to being kicked out at.
With Kirkby having the game tied up and the bonus point in the bag the second half was a bit off the pace but Penrith did manage to sneak a try after a better period of pressure when Mike Fearon sneaked through and was just able to reach for the line. At 20-31 Penrith had a sniff of both a four try and losing bonus point and the game livened up at the death.
Kirkby did score a penalty to increase their lead and right at the death Kris Bratton was though with the full back to beat but couldn't quite make it so for the first time this season Penrith took nothing from the game. They just have to pick themselves up and go down to Warrington to do their Cumbrian rivals a favour.