After a blank weekend Penrith returned to league duties this Saturday and blew away the cobwebs with a seven try home win. They started slowly and had Bradford & Bingley been able to take advantage it might have been quite a different scenario but Penrith survived with their line intact for the opening quarter of an hour, then warmed to their task.
The Yorkshire outfit had by far the better start and had they been a bit more clinical and had their handling been rather better they could well have had the home side under more pressure. As it was Penrith rather stuttering opening plays slowly improved and on 20 minutes they finally put a fluent move together, the backs moved the ball sharply to the right, a miss pass came to Jon Fell off the blind side wing who hit the line at pace, he carved through the gap between the outside centre and the winger and his run then arced back in towards the posts and although he was held short of the line he was able to slip the ball to Brad Taylor, in support on the inside, who went over for a converted try.
The visitors then had a period of ascendancy, on the half hour they were awarded a penalty on the home line and opted for a scrum, the scrum was reset once and then they forced their way over from the second 5m scrum.
The try was not converted so the Cumbrians had a slender lead but in the ten minutes before half time two pieces of Jamie McNaughton magic would turn the game in the home side's favour and make the second half a much easier prospect.
Ed Swale, always on the look out for a quick tap and go, did just that well in his own half and caught the visitors on their heels, he shimmied his way to half way where he found McNaughton on the right wing, he outpaced the cover and was left with only the full back to beat. He chipped the ball over him, caught his chip on the full and sped in. His second try was very similar, again it was a quickly taken penalty but this time he picked his way up the middle of the field leaving four tackler in his wake, a hitchkick and a step beat the full back and he just to say made the line. With one successful conversion the home side were 19-5 up at the break and turned to play with the wind to the carpark end.
They got the second half off to an excellent start, quick hands and an excellent pass from Matt Allinson allowed Fell to hit the ball flat out and it took him round his winger who was left floundering, his run took him into the 22 where the cover got to him but he was able to play the ball out of contact to Taylor who made the line for his second, and his team's bonus point try.
The three-quarters, after a turgid start were performing somewhere near their best and Allinson and McNaughton combined nicely to manufacture a clear run to the line for captain Swale for the next score. Penrith scored their sixth try after they cleared their lines with a long clearance kick, it was poorly returned and landed in Fell's hand on halfway, he didn't need a second invitation and outpaced the cover for a richly deserved try under the posts.
The final score came when the home eight won a scum 10m from the visitor's line, the heel wasn't well controlled and the ball squirted out, it was gathered by schoolboy scrumhalf Bruce Spencer, who had had another excellent game and who found McNaughton on the blindside wing. He got closer to the line than he had any right to and looked as if was going to be bundled into touch when No8 Ryan Johnson appeared on the scene, nobody was bundling him anywhere as he took the inside ball and crashed over.
This was an excellent win albeit with a slow start but Penrith's home form is not in doubt, the trick if they are going to have a successful season is to repeat this form on the road and if they can do it next week after a three hour trip to Bridlington they will be in business. The coaching staff will take a lot of positives out of this performance, without the influential George Graham at scrum half they will be delighted with young Spencer. Jack Warrior who has just returned to the club and after two games from the bench started and did his reputation the world of good. Also in recent weeks Tom Lindsay has come to the club and came on at halftime for his debut and showed plenty of abrasiveness and aggression that will be just what is needed away from home in the weeks to come.