Penrith hosted league leaders Wilmslow at the weekend and where very disappointed not to set them a sterner test, they started off well enough but by the time the game entered the final quarter they were well beaten and the visitors won at a canter.
If the club's players did not win any accolades on Saturday the ground staff certainly did, on a very wintery morning with snow lying on the pitch the lines were swept and remarked which was a task that took all morning and made playing conditions nigh on perfect apart from the temperature.
Penrith did start well, for the first quarter of an hour they pinned the visitors in their own half, looked after the ball well, didn't concede possession unnecessarily and made few mistakes. The Wilmslow defence looked strong and with the exception of Kris Bratton no one made a clean break but it looked as if it was going to be a keenly fought contest.
Penrith did have a chance to take the lead, their pressure caused Wilmslow to concede a number of penalties and Matt Allinson had an optimistic shot at one into the wind and narrowly missed. As the mat progressed the pattern began to change, the visitors stepped up their game as they got the journey out of their system and they warmed to their task.
Penrith's Head Coach David Preston had been quoted as saying he was of the opinion Wilmslow had the best set of backs in the league and a well drilled set of forwards and this proved to be the case. Their backs ran with purpose and Penrith scrambled to contain them. Contain them they did but it was increasingly at the cost of conceding penalties. Their problem was the more penalties they conceded the more they put themselves under pressure and the more likely they were to yet again incur the wrath of the referee.
As half time approached Wilmslow had kicked themselves into a nine point lead converting three of the five kickable penalty opportunities presented to them. On the stroke of half time their backs scored a fine try with a sweeping move that had been threatening for a while. Penrith also ended with a player in the sin bin which was hardly surprising as they had persistently been offending.
At 14-0 in arrears all was not lost as the visitors had played with a strong breeze at their backs and if the home side could use it to good effect they could yet get back into the game. It was not as if they weren't striving to get back into the game, they were, but it seemed to be as if it could go wrong it did go wrong. Things went from bad to worse and they conceded four tries at regular intervals in the second half, things were not helped by another two yellow cards but it turned into an afternoon best forgotten.
It was a frustrating day for all concerned and all you can do in such circumstances is look to the next game, this week is blank Saturday so they have to wait a fortnight to put things right with an away trip to Blackburn.