After losing out narrowly to their last two games to the two top placed clubs in the league Penrith faced fourth placed Warrington last Saturday and were delighted with the outcome. They scored ten tries in a performance of pace and power against a Warrington side that looked below par on the day but were only suffering their fifth defeat of the season.
Penrith made an inauspicious start to the game failing to deal with the kick off and defending a scrum on their own 22. They set the tone for the afternoon when they shunted the Warrington pack off their own ball but were penalised in this instance and the visitors kicked the penalty to the corner for an attacking lineout. This is as close as they got to the Penrith try line all match and the home forwards disrupted the lineout but Penrith were penalised again, this time the visitors opted for the kick at goal and took the three points and the lead.
Penrith were playing into a strong wind and this held up the restart kick and enabled Steven Cherry to get to the ball first, the ball was moved into midfield where the ruck was formed and the referee this time penalised the visitors. Matt Allinson judged his kick to the corner into the wind well and his forwards had an attacking lineout. They executed a regulation catch and drive that took them to the visitors line and then over it and it was Ryan Johnson that came up with the try and Penrith had their noses in front at 5-3.
The home side then warmed to their task and scored another three tries in a fifteen minute period, a searing outside break by Kris Bratton took play up to the visitors line where they were again penalised. The ball was put into touch and the lineout set up. This time they worked off the tail and Johnson ran the ball up in the middle of the park, when it was recycled and came to the backs Bratton was presented with a gaping hole in the visitors defensive line and he didn't waste the chance and let his pace do the rest.
The visitors defence struggled with Bratton's out and out pace all game and he was instrumental in the next try as he sought to make an outside break in the Warrington 22, he ended up making a half break but he got the ball away to Jamie McNaughton who showed a bit of sublime skill to pick the ball, one handed off his toes, and dive in at the corner.
Josh Dowson was catalyst for the bonus point try using his speed to beat several men taking play into the left hand corner of the Warrington 22, the defence was in disarray as the ball came right and a huge pass was aimed at Mike Fearon with bags of space on his outside, the pass was landing short however and Fearon angled his run towards it, wrong footing all the defenders and he went in under the posts. Allinson kicked his first conversion into the wind and Penrith were flying.
Warrington then got a bit of a grip on their game in the second quarter, they used the wind intelligently and put some pressure on the home side. They were able to build up a bit of momentum and set up some possession of their own and although they never threatened the Penrith line they did force a series of penalties within their placekickers range. He had three chances and took them all with some aplomb and at 22-12 had his side back in the game.
Penrith finished the half strongly with two 5m scrums on the visitors line and could well have come away with a pushover try but couldn't quite pull it off. They turned round with the wind at their backs, they didn't need to make much use of the wind but the more telling point was it wasn't there for Warrington to use.
Penrith scored early in the second half, after a penalty into the corner they went for the catch and drive from the lineout, they got to the line and were held up and as they drove round the corner Harlan Corrie was not to be denied and powered his way over. That was the result put to bed and the game then went strangely quiet and looked as if it may just drift to an uninspiring end with the point already in the bag.
The final quarter of an hour proved to be nothing of the sort as the home side ran riot. First to benefit was Jon Fell, on as a substitute on the wing, he took an inch perfect chip from Ryan Egerton to the corner to claim his try. Bratton then grabbed a second try his overall performance deserved and he then made the break into the visitors 22 that set up the next try. The ball came right and prop Arran Sullivan found himself in the outside centre position with the winger on his shoulder. He had had a good afternoon and was many people's man of the match. He had totally bossed the set scrums, run in the ball hard on numerous occasion and caused some serious damage and now gave an object lesson in drawing a man and passing to give Cherry a walk in at the corner.
At this stage there was only two minutes left on the clock but it still left time for a rampant Penrith side to grab a further two tries both scored by flying open side wing forward Dowson. The Penrith coaching even managed a smile, although not a very big one, and will wish they had a game this next weekend to take full advantage of this performance. They however have a blank Saturday and will travel to Eccles in a fortnight.