Penrith registered their third win of the season and although they have
performed rather better in their two previous games they thoroughly
deserved their win. The difference being at crucial times during the
game things went their way rather than going against them which has
been happening more often than not in recent weeks. You tend to earn
your luck and Penrith did here.
Things did not begin that well, after a bright start they conceded the
first try. They have been caught out several times this year not
chasing kicks well enough and this happened again, Steve Wood put a
decent enough kick in upfield but the chasers arrived in ones and twos,
fell off the tackle and the covering winger was in behind the defence
and put the centre in for a soft try.
To their credit this setback did not dull the Penrith effort, they
played the game in the Yorkshiremen's half and although they didn't
particularly look like taking them apart the pressure of field position
and possession lead to the visitors giving away two penalties within
Wood's range. He took both chances with ease with two well judged
kicks. Trailing by the odd point Penrith were to take the lead rather
fortuitously, an excellent punt upfield by fullback Mike Hawley rolled
into touch by the corner flag and the visitors had a lineout on their
own line. Their throw was poor, they missed their own man and gifted
Rob Dawson the ball who was only too happy to crash over from five
metres, Wood's conversion stretched the lead.
The Bradford side were allowed back into the game when a pass was
dropped under no pressure under the Penrith posts, from their scrum
they worked a try scoring opportunity only to drop the ball over the
line. Play however was brought back for a previous infringement and the
visitors slotted the penalty to trail by three points. Almost the the
same thing then happened at the other end, good play by the Penrith
backs got them in a scoring position only for the final pass to go
down, again play was brought back for the penalty and Wood's boot did
the rest.
On the stroke of half time Penrith were under intense pressure on their
own line and may have conceded a second try, the visitors contented
themselves with a drop goal and the home side were pleased to turn
around 16-13 up and all to play for.
Both sides had chances as the second period got underway, a good run
and chip and chase by Hawley earned a 5m scrum but nothing came of it.
Bradford were putting the home side under the cosh and looked as if
they were going to take the initiative when Penrith's mercurial stand
off Steve Wood was to change the course of the game. Hearing the call
and reading his opposite numbers mind he intercepted a pass inside in
his own 22 and ran the length of the field to score in the corner, in
his thirties his legs may not quite be what they were but his brain
certainly is and a couple of jinks at the end were enough to throw the
more youthful chasers, his conversion attempt understandably did not
quite have the legs but his side were on their way!
Strong running by Ryan Johnson aided and abetted by a couple of nice
touches by Gavin Young forced another infringement from the visitors
and Wood put his side further in front with a simple penalty under the
posts. James Ellar was to seal the game with just over ten minutes to
go, he was fed a quick penalty on half way and took the visitors on,
ran the ball up then chipped ahead. The ball should really have been
tidied up by the covering winger, Ellar though only needs a sniff of a
chance in his current form and raced in to use his footballing skills,
not for the first time, to hack the ball forward to the line, follow up
, gather the ball and dive over
Penrith were now two scores in front as the game went into its final
stages, they did not see much off the ball as the visitors huffed and
puffed as their forwards tried to bully their way over. The home
defence held out with no major panics, they had prevented Bradford from
scoring in the second half and earned a vital victory.
The shine was rather taken off it as the other league results came in
as both Burnage and Morley won meaning they did not move out of the
relegation zone. It was still an important win that keeps them firmly
in touch and should be the catalyst to kick start the second half of
the season.
There is now a one week break in the league programme before Penrith
make the difficult trip to Birkenhead Park a week on Saturday.