Carlisle had recruited heavily during the summer whereas Penrith are having to patch together a side week by week, especially in the forwards, they managed to paper over the cracks in a competitive first half but their lack of back five forwards caught up with them in the second half.
A fired up Carlisle side started the local derby at tremendous pace, they ran the ball in hard and were particularly aggressive in the tackle. They threw everything at the visitors but Penrith defended well but saw little of the ball in the first quarter of an hour as Carlisle went through their moves but, at least initially, could not quite put the finishing touch to their approach play.
Jamie McNaughton got a sniff of a chance following a dropped Carlisle pass in a dangerous position, the ball was hacked into the home side's half and McNaughton was leading the chase but his hack on went into touch where a more deft touch might have seen the chance for a score.
Carlisle's good approach play paid off after fifteen minutes when the left winger was put in for a crisp try, the conversion off the touchline gave the home side a seven point lead. This score sparked the Penrith side and they then had a twenty minute period when they dominated possession and spent a great deal of that time in the home 22.
They kicked penalties to the corner on five occasions to force an attacking lineout and were able to win the ball and set up the driving maul for the line but were never quite able to out muscle a strong Carlisle pack to score. The Penrith pack even drove their much vaunted home pack off their own set scrum but weren't able to turn it into points. The home side were using all the tricks in the book to disrupt the visitor's drive, they incurred the wrath of the referee and received two yellow cards but were still able to keep Penrith out and on reflection that may have been the turning point of the game.
As the first half ended Carlisle had lifted the siege and were just about value for their lead, the game looked finely poised but the home side were to have much the better of the second half.
Carlisle were on the front foot from the start as Penrith were forced to defend frantically, They had George Graham yellow carded and the home side scored a second try while he was off the field. A kick to the corner saw them win the lineout and score from close range. A long pass to the winger opened the defence up for the third try and fourth came from a 5m scrum and a snipe from the scrum half.
Penrith were under enormous pressure and it is always much easier attacking than defending, they were paying the price for having six front row forwards in their squad but the players on the field stuck to their task. They finally did get a score, a simple pass on the left looked as if it would have given the winger an easy try but play was brought back right and Matt Allinson was able to make space for Jon Fell and get him in around the outside.
It there were any thoughts of a late fightback Carlisle scored a fifth try in a sweeping move from left to right to seal the game for a well earned win. It is a while since Penrith have lost the first two games of the season and all eyes will be on Manchester on Saturday