Penrith's decent start to the season continued with a good away win at Wheatley Hills in Doncaster, the Yorkshire club offered stiff resistance at the outset but struggled with the pace of the Cumbrians' game and the longer the match went on the greater the Penrith stranglehold and in the end they won at a canter.
From the start the home side did their best to slow the game down, walking to and taking their time at set pieces and players down injured at most stoppages of play. They did start pretty well though and in the opening minutes put some pressure on the Penrith line with some tight forward play but the visitors' defence proved to be stubborn and it came to nothing.
Penrith opened the scoring after five minutes when George Graham and Ben Littleton combined to take play into the home 22 where the defence infringed and Mike Fearon's boot gave his side a three point lead. The restart kick did not go 10m and from the resulting scrummage on the centre spot Graham broke and Ed Swale linked and chipped the ball into the 22 for a home lineout. Penrith stole the ball at the tail and were held up over the line and then from the 5m scrum No8 Ryan Johnson broke to the right, spun back left out of the tackle and crashed over.
Fearon added the conversion and shortly after a second penalty after sharp work by Swale saw him leave two chasers for dead as the followed up a clearance kick. He then chipped ahead only to be barged over to earn the penalty shot.
Penrith were 13 points to the good and further scores looked inevitable, a neat Swale chip ahead was gathered by Littleton and Jon Fell looked to be in for a try only to be brought back by the ever honest Penrith touch judge for a foot in touch. A second try did come right on the stroke of half time.
It came from a home clearance kick, Swale gathered and set up Littleton who made good ground before the combative Liam Tunstall took over and made more ground than he had a right to. Callum Rowlandson crashed the ball up the middle to the 22 and Graham broke from the breakdown, when he looked surrounded he played the neatest offload to Swale in support who scooted under the posts. Fearon who didn't miss a kick all afternoon slotted the conversion for a 20 point lead at the break.
The home side started the second period as they has the first on the Penrith line but again the Cumbrian rearguard was up to the task. They then put the game to bed with a sweeping move off the training pitch, driving play by Mike Stephens and Dan Morgan took play into the 22 and with the defence at sixes and sevens Phil Armstrong put Littleton away for the try. The fourth and bonus point try came as a result of some aggressive Penrith tackling, the home runner lost the ball in contact and captain Fearon was the sharpest and gathered it, stepped a couple of tacklers and showed the rest a clean pair of heels.
The home side were maybe beaten but they were still up for it and scored a good try following driving play by their forwards in the right hand corner before moving the ball sharply left and scoring in the other corner, this is the only score Penrith have conceded in two games but it didn't please the management team.
They were soon on the scoresheet again, Graham and Littleton combined to return a clearance kick before Ryan Johnson ran the ball deep into the 22, it came right and Fearon found Matt Allinson who forced his way over.
Johnson played a pivotal role in the penultimate try robbing the opposition in midfield and this turnover ball was put to good use by Graham and Swale who put Jamie McNaughton in the clear who raced in for his score. As the game went into added time the home side were looking for a second consolation try which would have angered the coaches even further and Penrith spent quite a time on their own line. Debutante backrow forward Chris Jackson at this stage was off the bench and put in some decent hits and the home side eventually fell foul of the referee and Penrith cleared the ball to the half way line from the penalty.
They won the lineout which was the final play off the game, two phases later wide on the left Armstrong fed Fell who played a smart pass out of contact to put Littleton man on man with the final defender on the 22. A little bit of footwork and an outside break did for the for the final try.
It's a decent start to the new campaign and with results all over the place in the league only Penrith and West Hartlepool have won their opening two games. Head coach David Preston however was keeping his feet firmly on the ground and told his players the league table was not worth looking at till Christmas.