Recent trips to the Wirrel to take on Birkenhead Park have yielded
nothing for the Cumbrian side so Penrith perhaps should have been happy
to travel back up the M6 with a losing bonus point in the bag. The fact
they weren't was testament to how close they came to winning a fixture
that usually they are just happy to get out of the way and the home
side's relief at at the end showed how pleased they were to win a game
they hardly deserved to.
The elements played a major part in the afternoon, a blustery wind blew
down the ground and although it was not continual it was of great
advantage to the team with it at their backs. Penrith had first use of
it and needed to make a positive start to make the best use of it,
although they didn't begin too badly they did leave themselves a
mountain to climb when they conceded a soft try through the centre of
their defence with only ten minutes on the clock, poor first up
tackling allowed the Merseyside side to breach the first line of
defence and once they had done this they finished the break of with
aplomb.
Penrith were soon back on even terms, although Ed Swale may have been
giving his opposite number height and weight advantage he out thought
him for the Penrith try, he stood as wide out on his wing as he could
which was not picked up on and when the ball came to Steve Wood he saw
the opportunity and chipped the ball to perfection in behind the
defending winger. Swale was always favourite for the chase to the ball
but showed great patience as the ball bobbled before gathering it to
step back inside the cover to score.
Wood's conversion leveled the scores at 7-7 and although Penrith put on
the pressure they could not add to their score before half time, the
struggled to keep the ball for any length of time in the home 22 to
force any errors.
It was ominous as the turned to face the wind as it appeared Birkenhead
would use the wind, camp in the Penrith 22 and grind out a win through
their forwards, that's what would normally happen but the Penrith
defence was excellent, there was a close call or two but the home side
didn't look like crossing the Cumbrian's line and only had a penalty to
show for their endeavours.
With the wind at their backs the Merseyside outfit were playing deep in
the Penrith half but as the game entered the final ten minutes this was
to change. Penrith were to create a few chances, Gavin Young broke up
the middle and the ball came to Mike Hawley on the 22 and he looked
certain to score but was hauled down just short, the support was
quickly there and the ball moved to Wood who had a retreating offside
lumbering prop for company before he could move the ball wide. The move
was snuffed out but Penrith were awarded a 5m scrum, Mike Raine broke
blind, slipped the ball to Paul Newton and a try looked on in the
corner but the ball didn't quite make it to winger Swale. The final
whistle went with a great feeling of frustration in the Penrith ranks
of so near but yet so far.
Birkenhead Park are not a daft side and are very street wise, knowing
just how to get away with blocking off the Penrith tacklers, lazy
retreating when on the the back foot to slow the ball, playing the
referee to the absolute limit at the breakdown and generally pushing it
to the limits. Nothing actually illegal but it frustrated the Penrith
players who like to get on and play the game as opposed to practising
the darker arts, you might call this naive but it probably the
difference between the sides on the day.
This result now makes the next fixture against Beverley even more
important, they are a place below Penrith in the drop zone and a win is
vital to keep their fight against relegation on track.