

With apologies to Presto's Mam - the report is late but I've been a bit thrang -
Penrith completed their trio of games against the three unbeaten teams at the top of the league and were again disappointed, after an excellent start to the game and a deserved 14 point lead they slipped away badly in the second and ended up being well beaten.
They started the game under a bit of pressure as Warrington had good field position in the Penrith 22 but the throwing in to the line of Dan Morgan and JJ Key's lineout jumping remained steady and the threat was averted.
Penrith were soon on the attack and had much the better of the first 30 minutes and looked the better side by far. They opened the scoring after winning turnover ball on halfway, it was moved sharply right and some superb improvisation by Jamie McNaughton put Steven Cherry away on the wide outside and he took play into the 22. A couple of forward drives took play deeper into the 22 before Tama Toomata stormed to just short of the line before being dragged down, Ed Swale then snipped down the fringes on the left of the breakdown and set the ball up for Arran Sullivan who was too strong to be stopped from that range. Sullivan was to have an excellent afternoon wreaking with the home set scrummage almost at will.
Penrith's second score came when Warrington had the put into a scrum on their own line, the Penrith eight put them under allsorts of pressure and when the No8 broke Swale was all over him and Toomata was able to turn the ball over. The ball was run in twice and with the defence in disarray the next time the ball came out Mike Fearon was able to cut back on the angle and slide in for the second try. His second conversion gave the visitors a healthy lead.
At this stage Penrith were the only side in it but they were to lose Fearon with what turned out to be a broken shoulder blade and McNaughton was clearly not able to run off a knock he had sustained in the build up to the first try and they were beginning to look fragile in the backs.
As half time approached the home side almost scored a break away try with a kick and chase from their own 22 and on the stroke of half time they did open their account, it was the first time they had had a period of possession in the Penrith 22 and they took full advantage and Penrith turned around with their lead halved at 14-7.
The second half was a completely different affair, the home side had their tails up and were running the ball in twice as hard and getting to, and past, the gain line with increasing regularity and they added a further four tries. Three of them were scored wide out as Penrith struggled with a makeshift backline and the final insult came in added time as Warrington ran a tap penalty in the Penrith 22 and that try put them out of sight.
Penrith never really looked like coming back at them and they were hampered with having six front row players in the squad because of unavailabilities of one sort and another. The front five being made up entirely of front row forwards and although they gave their all they struggled with the pace of the game as it went into the later stages.
This week sees a rest week which is most welcome the way things are, it will give one or two niggly injuries the chance to clear up and an opportunity to regroup.