their third game of the season Penrith faced a Waterloo side that
had lost its first two games, albeit both very closely and had hoped to
register their second win, they came close but not close enough.
Waterloo began very well, working the ball half the length of the field
with their forwards driving the ball in hard close to the set pieces,
they were stopped just short of the home line when they were penalised
for hanging on to the ball after the tackle. Steve Wood cleared the
ball to half way and when Penrith won the lineout they had their first
meaningful possession of the game and immediately scored, Wood moved
the ball wide and early, Mike Hawley made inroads and Ed Swale was able
to suck the last man in and Phil Fell danced down the touchline and
then in behind the posts for the dream start after only four minutes.
Wood converted but then it became obvious the visitors were not going
to lie down, they came back hard and kicked two penalties to fetch the
scores within a point, between the two kicks the visitors lost their
stand off in a clash of heads with Billy Barton, both parties were to
visit the local hospital and neither played any further part in the
game.
Penrith always looked the more dangerous side with the ball in hand and
spurned a couple of decent chances of further tries before a Wood punt
to the corner from a penalty saw the home forwards win their throw and
then drive for the line, they were much more organised than their
opposite numbers and drove them back and it was Ian McDowell who came
up with the ball for the try, the home side held this 12-6 advantage
until half time but it was clear the game was far from over.
Just into the second half the Penrith side looked as if they'd been in
a war, at least half a dozen looked to be carrying injuries from sore
legs to pulled backs, injured shoulders and bad heads. It was then no
surprise when a series of defensive blunders allowed Waterloo to score
in the corner and the conversion off the touchline gave them the
narrowest of leads. Looking at the body language that might have been
it but they bounced back, Rob Dawson and Geogre Birtle regained
possession from the kick off and the forwards drove it in a couple of
times before the ball went wide and good play by Wood and James Ellar
saw Mike Hawley go over in the corner. Wood's conversion restored
Penrith six point advantage but it didn't last long.
Given the opportunity to clear their lines they inexplicably chipped
the ball out of the 22 straight into the away wingers hands and put
themselves under pressure which ended in a 5m scrum from which their
back row scored. Penrith dug in and Wood kicked them into a two point
lead with 15 minutes to go. As the game went into the last five minutes
the home side came under increasing pressure and after a concerted
effort by the visitors and a series of phases the forced their way over
in the corner. A good conversion gave them a five point lead and try
though they may as the game drew to a close Penrith could not find the
winning score.
It was a disappointing defeat but there was very little in it, three
tries apiece and the score changing hands six times about sums it up,
unfortunately not just that little bit extra when it really counts.