Penrith faced a stern test at in form Alnwick who trailed them by one point at the top of the North One East league table. This game was scheduled to be played in December and had to be postponed because of the weather. This game was in doubt right up to Saturday morning when the ground was declared fit and when the Cumbrian coach arrived the pitch was in perfect condition. It had been standing in water but the gale force wind blowing across had dried it out but also increased the wind chill factor. The temperature was freezing but if BBC weather were to be believed there was a wind chill factor of -6, and it was certainly all of that.
Penrith's preparations for the game had not been ideal, they had a number of unavailabilities and one cry off on the morning of the game due to ill health, it's very rare that sides travel at full strength so they were making no excuses.
As you would expect in the circumstances the home side started at a frenetic pace in an all out effort for the win that would see them leapfrog the visitors into top spot.
Penrith found themselves under early pressure being pinned back in their own 22 after a high kick had been misjudged in the testing conditions, they had just managed to scramble it clear but were defending deep in their own half. Alnwick were on the front foot and were playing to their strength, their excellent back row. All three were big, strong and ran the ball in hard and their open side wing forward broke the tackles that led to the first try in the corner after only three minutes. The Penrith defenders would find themselves confronting the physicality of the Alnwick back row all afternoon.
The conversion off the touchline was well wide in the freezing gale and the visitors restarted the game, the ball went directly into touch resulting in a scrum in the centre of the field and it was beginning to look as if it may be a long afternoon for Penrith's young side. The put into the scrum lifted the visitors as their forwards shunted the vaunted Alnwick pack off their own ball, Mike Raine was away at No8 and made ground before a fumble led to another home scrummage. The Penrith eight again drove the home eight off their own ball and won a penalty which was kicked to touch. The Penrith pack more than held their own in the set scrum against a side who see this part of the game as one of their strengths.
Penrith won the lineout and the home forwards were again penalised which led to the ball being put into touch close to their line. The visitors again went for the catch and drive, this time they were able to drive the maul to the line and the hard working Dan Richardson claimed the try. George Graham then had a very difficult conversion attempt close to the touchline, he hit it low and hard and it skimmed the crossbar for a 7-5 lead for the visitors.
The game then set into a pattern where the home side had the majority of the territory and possession and Penrith spent a lot of time defending desperately deep in their own half, Alnwick on several occasions looked to have breeched the Cumbrian rearguard only for a last minute tackle to save the day, Graham always seemed to be found where the danger was and must have made at least three try saving incursions.
Although the home side's efforts did not result in them adding to their try count in the first half their pressure did draw three kickable penalties, although not difficult on paper in the conditions on the day there was nothing easy about any of them and the Alnwick place kicker did very well to judge all three to perfection. This saw Penrith trail 14-7 at the break but the cross field gale would rather favour them in the second half.
The pattern of the game changed little in the second half with Penrith doing most of the defending, the North East club extended their lead by another three points with a fourth penalty and although Penrith did have some possession and put some phases together they never looked like taking the home side apart. With ten minutes to go they were able to spend some time in the home 22 and apply some pressure, they won a penalty when the home back line were caught offside. Graham slotted the kick, again difficult in the wind, and Penrith were in bonus point territory only trailing by seven points which was as much as they could hope for on such a difficult afternoon.
This sparked renewed efforts by the home side and they eventually managed a second try from all their possession when the stand off and centre combined to create a gap in midfield which ended up with a try in the corner. The icing on the cake for them was a fifth penalty and a well deserved victory which moves them three points above Penrith with five games to go.
Although Penrith were outplayed their fighting spirit was there to be clearly seen, the young side had defended for all they were worth in extreme conditions where it would have been easier to hide. They had made mistakes and sometimes given away the ball too easily but they had scrapped to the end. In fact the quality of the game was a credit to both sides in the finger numbing freezing gale.
Alnwick clearly now have the advantage and look to have an easier run in than Penrith but it is still all to play for