Penrith's league fixtures finally got underway on Saturday when Sunderland made their first ever visit to Winters Park, the home side earned themselves a reasonably comfortable victory but there were a few hiccups along the way.
They started the game carelessly, the kick off did not go 10 metres, they over elaborated and gifted possession to the visitors and generally made life difficult for themselves, despite this they took the lead after only five minutes. They won a scrum well in their own half, No8 Jason Tait broke and set the ball up in midfield and when it came quickly to the three quarters, Isaac Murray, with a show of the ball stepped his man to make a clean break on his own 22 and ran the length of the field outpacing all the visiting threes to score himself.
The home side still struggled to impose themselves on the game giving the ball away too easily and had another long distance try to thank for calming the nerves. From another scrum on their own 22 they worked the ball up to half way, the ball came wide on the right, Isaac Murray put Nick Dudson into space and after making ground he chipped the ball ahead to just short of the line, Murray won the chase as the ball sat up nicely for him and he bagged his second try.
Nine minutes later Murray completed his hat-trick, a good number of phases saw Penrith stretch the visitors' defence and Riley Thwaites put Jack Huddart away down the right and he showed good pace to make the 22. The ball came infield and when Murray got his chance he picked his way between two static defenders and ran in from the 22.
The home side's penalty count had given the visitors a number of chances to score from lineouts close to the try-line, on the half hour they finally took one of those chances, set up the maul from the lineout and then broke off it to score down the short side. The Cumbrians finished the half with a fourth try, they had good possession inside the visitors' 22, Jack Gaskell made a clever half break and popped the ball to Huddart who romped in.
Penrith led 26-7 at the break but if the TV cameras had been there they would have shown the visitors had had the lion's share of territory and possession but failed to take full advantage.
They added a fifth try eight minutes into the second period after Tait made ground from a scrum in his own half, the ball came to the backs and Ashton Hook got away and was stopped just short of the line, the ball was recycled and when it came into midfield Harley Johnson crashed over. Sunderland then scored a very nicely worked team try following a rare midfield break, there then followed a 10 minute lull following an injury. When the home side restarted the game, the ball was knocked on back to them and they worked towards the line with an Adam Howe drive almost getting them there, there was then some confusion as the ball ran loose and Ben Campbell was the quickest to react and dotted the ball over the line.
Hook created the next try running back a punt up-field, he was through on the last man and drew him to set up captain George Graham for a clear run in. It was all Penrith now as the visitors began to flag, a number went down with cramp as the Cumbrians turned the screw. Johnson looked to have added to his tally but was adjudged to have been held up over the line, from the resultant kick out the home side built the phases and Gaskell was able to power over. Hook set up another try running back another hopeful punt up-field, this time he set up Huddart who claimed his second try and showed a real turn of pace in doing so.
Greg Wrathall grabbed the final try as the home side scored their tenth in the final play of the game, they had battled through a rocky first half when they struggled to put any lengthy spells of possession together or create real pressure but their quality shone through and their superior fitness in the second half had enabled them to show that quality to the full.
They will learn a bit more about their prospects with two difficult trips coming up to Percy Park and then West Hartlepool