After the form they have shown in recent weeks this game was more about
Penrith's performance than the result. Rossendale is not an easy place
to visit at the best of times and worse when you go on the back of a
poor run of form, they are a big strong, aggressive side and play in
your face, if you stood off them you would get a real pasting.
This is even more likely on a wet miserable afternoon which is exactly
what faced the visitors, to their credit they stepped up to the mark,
put in a brave workman like performance and could have quite easily
have come away with a win as they bossed the final quarter.
Penrith played down the slope in the first half but it was the home
side that had all the possession and pressure and they laid siege to
the Penrith line, the visitors defended stoutly, in the main stopping
the hard running home forwards on the gain line and frustrating their
efforts. They were unfortunate to go behind after only nine minutes,
they had stolen the ball in yet another Rossendale surge for the line
and an attempted clearance kick was charged down and ran kindly for the
onrushing attackers who only had to touch it down. This did not dampen
the Cumbrians' enthusiasm for the fray and they continued to hang on in
there and their endeavour was rewarded on the half hour with a Steve
Wood penalty.
The half finished with Rossendale again hammering away at the visitors'
line, they were held up over the line and Penrith defended a series of
5m scrums and kept their line intact. The pressure finally told when
the conceded a simple penalty which gave the home side a 8-3 advantage
as they turned round to play down the slope.
You might have expected Rossendale to dominate even more with the steep
slope in their favour but the second half was a much more even affair.
The home side did extend their lead with an early penalty but it was
Penrith who posed more of a threat, Gavin Young broke the line on half
way and was hauled down just short of the line, Paul Newton was over
the line with the ball from a 5m lineout but was pulled back for an
infringement and Wood had four shots at goal. They were all nicely
struck but were all from distance and from poor underfoot conditions,
they all made the distance but were narrowly wide and on another day
may have gone over. One of them would have earned a losing bonus point
but it was not to be, no real blame could be given because none of them
were easy.
As the half wore on the home effort seemed to slightly fade but their
defence close to their own line was awesome and Penrith could not quite
break their resolve, Rossendale were worthy winner but Penrith ran them
very close when the odds seemed against them. They will look to build
on this, all fifteen players had put their bodies on the line and put
in the strong physical effort that was required and nothing less than
that in the coming weeks will do.