Penrith posted their fourth win in succession to maintain their 100% start to the season, the scoreline suggests a regulation win which it was, they were never in danger of losing but the gloss was rather taken off their afternoon when they failed to add to their score and a battling Northern side hit back with three tries in the final quarter.
The home side made a number of changes to their backs, captain Ed Swale played at scrum half as George Graham was away, Ross Jackson made only his second start for the club at stand off and they introduced two new signings, Brad Taylor and Jay Rossi. It took them a while to gel and although they looked the better side from the start, in the opening ten minutes they infringed far too often and found themselves three points down after the visitors goaled a penalty for offside.
As time went on they became more fluent and started to look more dangerous. They got ahead when Mike Raine broke from a scrum just outside the 22 and made inroads into the red zone, Ryan Johnson and Liam Tunstall also made ground before the ball was whipped left. A long pass released Jamie McNaughton into space and he got in behind the first line of defenders and timed the pass to put Ben Littleton away and he sneaked in at the corner.
The conversion was missed but Penrith scored from the restart. Raine took the drop out and set up the attack from their own half. The home side went through the phases with Ian McDowell and Dan Richardson prominent before they found the defence short of numbers on their right wing and young Taylor, who has joined the club from Cockermouth, had an early chance to show his pace. That is exactly what he did as he outpaced the cover from halfway.
Penrith's third score came when they disrupted a Northern scrum, a hasty clearance kick was gathered by McNaughton just short of his 22 and he beat man after man in open play before setting Taylor away who showed the chasers a clean pair of heels for a second time.
Northern then threatened as they kicked a penalty to the corner and it was only Littleton's legs that saved the home side as he got under the ball as the visitors got over the line, they then had an attacking scrum as the ball was held up but excellent defence held them at bay.
Another Raine break from No8 led to the fourth score, he was held up just short of the line, the forwards drove for the try line and it was Tunstall who used his strength to force his way over. The Cumbrians then repeated the trick and scored from the restart again. The kick off was secured and the ball came to the backs, the visitors had not got themselves organised and McNaughton from fullback just picked them off as he left tacklers one after another grasping at thin air, he drew the last man and set Johnson away who showed great pace for a big man and he made the line from 40 metres out..
Penrith were 33-3 up at the break and looked a good bet for quite a few more in the second half. It was Northern who made the better start to the second period but Penrith who got on the scoreboard first. They won a lineout on the 22 and play went to the right as the forwards drove in time after time with Will Morgan and Lee Chapman to the fore. Play then came back to the left, Matt Allinson made the half break and released new boy Rossi who timed his pass nicely to Littleton who sped in at the corner.
It was more McNaughton magic that created the final try, he joined the line in his own half and beat several defenders to take play to the visitor's 22 where Swale continued the move and set up Littleton to go in at the corner for his hat trick try. Penrith then went close a couple of times, Littleton was over the line but lost control of the ball, Swale thought he had given another scoring pass but it landed in a defender's hands. Then one or two promising moves broke down and the home side just seemed to lose their fluency.
Northern to their credit kept plugging away and added three tries in the final quarter, the home side had the game well won and had long ago secured their four try bonus point but the coaching team would not be best pleased but they could hardly turn their noses up at a seven try win.
There were plenty of good points, the new boys had all done well, including Bruce Spencer, a schoolboy who had come off the bench for the final 25 minutes and made a great showing at scrum half. The backs will clearly improve as they spend more time on the training pitch together and they are behind a pack that looks as good as any Penrith eight have looked for a while.
They face a stern test at West Hartlepool next time out, although they have not had the best of starts to the season it is never an easy place to go.