Penrith's decent start to the season, two home wins in the cup and league, came to a stuttering halt at Percy Park on Saturday when they were unable to contain the strong running home forwards. They were caught cold early on and struggled to get back into the game, on two occasions they looked as if they might have got themselves back into contention then slipped away again.  

They couldn't have started the game much more poorly, they allowed the kick off to bounce and although they did manage to scramble it away into touch a penalty was then conceded in the next play. This was kicked to the corner and a try came from possession from the ensuing lineout. After 10 minutes they conceded a second penalty, it was kicked to the corner and a second try was conceded from the second 5m lineout. On the quarter hour the exact same combination of penalty, touch finder to the corner and lineout saw them concede a third try and trail by 15 points.

The visitors were under all kinds of pressure and looked like conceding again when they turned the ball over deep in their own 22, a strong lung bursting run saw Sonny Askins make it to half way where he was able to set young winger Fin Binks away and he left the home cover in his wake to score.

This was a temporary reprieve though as the home side continued to turn the screw and scored two converted tries to lead 29-7 as half time approached. The Cumbrians then managed to apply a little pressure in the home 22, Isaac Murray found Askins but there looked to be little on as he was stationary taking the ball but his strength saw him shrug off a couple of tackles to find himself in space, he then made the line getting the better of another two defenders.

Penrith then scored from the restart, No8 Jason Tait ran the ball from his own line, from the ruck it was moved to the left wing where some good interplay saw Ben Campbell get into clear ground, he was able to make some headway before setting Olly Newton away who ran half the length of the pitch to score in the corner. The visitors had clawed the themselves back into the game trailing by only 10 points at 29-19 but they were unable to build on it.

Another penalty to the corner saw the home forwards bulldoze over for a sixth try and some very poor tackling allowed them in for a seventh just before the break.

At 43-19 down at the beginning of the second half a fourth try to secure a bonus point and not getting humiliated looked like a reasonable target but they came out looking for more than that. Robbie Phillipson had come off the bench just before the break and added a bit of impetus and from a quickly taken penalty he made good yards almost to the home line and Adam Howe was on hand to make the final push and crash over. 

Penrith were now much improved and some decent possession saw Campbell make another break but threw a wayward pass out of contact close to the line, Murray however was alert to the situation and was able to gather up the loose ball to score. Jack Gaskell was the catalyst for the third try in quick succession, he broke out of defence up the right wing and when the momentum slowed the ball was whipped left and Askins drew in the last two defenders to put Binks away in plenty of room to again show the cover a clean pair of heels to score.

The home lead was down to one score at 43-36 and the visitors looked the most likely winners as the home side struggled but they weren't done and raised their game to score a well worked team try to restore their 14 point advantage. They scored again and it looked like curtains for the visitors but they came back in the closing minutes and after running a penalty, Harley Johnson crossed to give them just a glimmer of hope.

The home side replied as they had done throughout the game with another try from an attacking lineout but it was Askins who had the final say, an excellent cover tackle from Binks saw the ball go loose on half way and Askins snapped it up and was too strong for the cover and ran in his side's eighth try.

Penrith's young side had been bullied in the early stages but to their credit had kept coming back, although no side scoring 48 points should lose, it's all part of the learning process but they will have to learn on the hoof as they travel to West Hartlepool this weekend.