Penrith made the trip to Leigh looking to cement their fourth place in the league but came away a poor second after losing out to a Leigh side who had just got themselves clear of the relegation zone. No one in the Penrith camp would claim they hadn't got what they deserved out of the game and that was exactly nothing. They had badly under estimated the opposition, struggled in the set scrummage the entire game and hardly won a lineout, it was a day to forget.

Leigh offered a strong tackling defence and a good kick and chase but little else and on another day it would not have troubled the Cumbrians but on Saturday it was more than enough. The build up to the game had an end of season feel about it and that ran over into the game

Penrith had a decent start to the match, the home defenders seemed to think they could stand a yard in front of the offside line and were pinged several times, Mike Fearon had two eminently kickable penalty shots but both went wide and that set the pattern for the day. The two efforts were into the wind and when Leigh got themselves into the game they earned two similar opportunities both were converted with the assistance of the breeze and they led by six points.

Penrith were putting together the better patterns of play and could retain the ball for a few phases but then would make a simple mistake and end up back where they started. All the time however they were coming up against a strong defence and any progress would have to be earned by wearing the opposition down, moving them about and creating gaps, they weren't going to simply run through them. They did create one such opportunity and it was fullback Ryan Egerton that found himself in space and was able to crack the defence and score wide out.

This pulled Penrith back to just 6-5 down and then they held Leigh at bay as they finished the first half hammering on the Penrith line. Whilst only trailing by one point and having the slight slope and the breeze in the second half the visitors would fancy their chances, especially if they could discover anything like their recent form.

This didn't happen and things went from bad to worse, the harder they seemed to try the worse it got with even the most reliable of players committing simple errors. Leigh hit a simple penalty after half time to stretch their lead before scoring a try their persistence deserved to lead 14-5. A Matt Allinson penalty in front of the posts brought them back within a score but Leigh scored a second try and conversion in the final ten minutes and even a losing bonus point evaded them.

Penrith face Vale of Lune this week at Winters Park and they will have to perform to a much higher standard than this if they are going to make a game of it.