Penrith started the New Year in an awful lot better form than they
finished the last, they followed a dismal defeat at Waterloo with
probably their best performance of the season so far against an
abrasive Hartlepool side.
It was a very blustery day at Winters Park and the home side had first
use of the elements, the visitors at a very early stage decided to play
a very narrow game and ran the ball close to the breakdown very rarely
using their backs and moving the ball wide. Their tactics served them
well for making ground as they spent long periods in the Penrith 22 and
on their line but they struggled to turn possession and position into
points.
Their pick and drive worked well into the wind and they had the first
chance to score but couldn't break the last line of defence, it was
Penrith who opened the scoring when the visitors were penalised on
their 10m line and Steve Wood's long range effort sailed over on the
wind.
The home side were to extend their lead from a scrum on the 22, Mike
Raine picked the ball at No8 and released the rampaging Ryan Johnson
who bulldozed through several tackles and sucked in the cover before
the ball was switched to the backs, Wood floated a pass into the path
of the accelerating James Ellar who coasted round his man and went
round to score under the posts. Woods conversion stretched the lead to
ten points but the North East men were to come straight back. Their
driving play again took them to the home line and they looked sure to
score but the scoring pass was deliberately knocked down by Wood who
was the last defender and he was to spend ten minutes in the bin for
his efforts. Hartlepool ran the resultant penalty and this time their
pressure paid off as they crossed against the 14 defenders.
As half time approached it was Penrith's turn to be in the ascendancy
and strong running by Ellar, Sandy Kerridge and James Thornton took
play to the 22 were the visitors strayed offside to give Wood a
straight forward penalty chance which turned into a 13-5 half time
advantage. The half time opinion was it was probably not quite plenty
bearing in mind the strength of the wind but the first five minutes of
the second period was to prove vital.
Penrith received the restart and ran the ball back through the
forwards, excellent recycling and strong running from Raine and
Thornton in particular took play to the 22, with the Hartlepool defence
at 6's and 7's the ball came to the backs and Wood cleverly drifted
across and held his pass until full back Mike Hawley hit the line at
pace and he found him and he burst through for a try before the
visitors had touched the ball. The Penrith forwards now had their tails
up and warmed to their task tearing into the visitors, just three
minutes later the backs were put away in similar circumstances with the
defence in tatters, Wood put Hawley away again and this time he drew
the last defender to put Ed Swale away on the wing who scooted away
into the corner. From having a shaky half time lead the home side
looked commanding at 25-5 up.
West Hartlepool were far from finished though and stuck to thier tight
game plan, they were able make good yards up the field, probably a
little too easily but floundered on the Penrith defence which was
resolute on their own line. Despite taking a battering Penrith were to
score next, Billy Barton as he had been doing all afternoon put in
another big hit, this time it was hard enough to dislodge the ball and
it ran free and was hacked ahead. The ball went high down the touch
line chased by winger Swale, he is far from the tallest man in the team
but won the ball in the air against his opposite number, stepped back
inside and put away Ellar who was quickly up in support, his pace got
him to the line, just, for his 13th league try of the season.
With ten minutes to go the game was over bar the shouting and although
the visitors did manage a try in the final minute it was an excellent
performance and a vital bonus point win. The team had played with great
heart and conviction and if they carry on in this vein they will have
no trouble pulling away from the relegation zone as the season
progresses. All 18 men had played their part but none more so than
Barton and Thornton who were outstanding and led from the front from
start to finish.