Penrith were delighted with their narrow win over a physical Warrington side on Saturday, the league position and playing record of both sides going into the game suggested it would be a close contest and that is exactly how it worked out, there were three tries being scored by either side and only a Nathan Wooff conversion to split the teams after 80 minutes.
The game throughout was even with the lead changing hands on two occasions and never more than a few points in it, the home side retook the lead with quarter of an hour to go, they were hanging grimly on at the end and were more than pleased to hear the final whistle.
The game started with both sides running the ball in hard at close quarters and both defences standing firm, the ball was being run up with gusto and there were some heavy tackles going in with no quarter being asked for or given, it was a real battle in every sense of the word.
It was Penrith who struck first, their set scrum had looked under pressure in the first couple of scrums but as they settled into the game they improved and the first score came as they secured ball against the head in the visitor's 22. George Graham managed, whilst being held, to get the ball away to Jon Fell on the blind side wing, he got the ball to the corner where the forwards took over and after several thumping drives the ball came to the backs. Wooff looked to be having a dart himself but Jay Rossi ran an excellent line and took a short pop pass off Wooff and bundled over under the posts. Wooff knocked over the simple conversion and the home side were away.
Their seven point cushion didn't last long as they knocked on at the restart and conceded possession, the home defensive line was crooked and although no one would get through the hard tackling Penrith three quarters the visiting centres had the pace to take advantage of a gap, this they did creating a try wide out. Warrington were playing towards the car park and this was a rare afternoon where the wind was coming from the south and the conversion into the wind fell short of the posts.
Penrith next looked like scoring when Graham took a quick penalty and got to the visitor's line, the referee awarded a scrum to the defending side but the improving home pack drove the visitors off their own ball and they then had the put in to the reset scrum. Allinson moved into the fly half position and took a short ball off Graham and looked favorite to score but was stopped just short, Graham then looked to have got over but the ball was finally cleared.
The Cumbrians did score next, this time Mike Raine broke from a scrum and made ground, the ball was recycled and Penrith got the ball about to the 22 when Craig Price ran the ball up, rather than go to ground he managed to slip it to Ryan Lee, on the charge, who was on his shoulder and he burst into the 22. He took the fullback on head on and he never looked as if he was going to be stopped and he went in by the posts making Wooff's conversion a simple affair. Penrith now had a healthy looking nine point lead but it didn't last till half time, a sloppy turnover led to a run down the visitor's right wing and a bit of pace and a missed tackle saw them score a second try, tellingly the conversion into the wind again fell short.
Penrith's lead didn't last long into the second period, a poor clearance kick up the middle of the field into the wind turned out to be a bit of a gift and the home defence found themselves short on the right and a simple overlap led to the visitor's third try, this time, with the wind the conversion was a much easier ask and Warrington led by three.
There was still nothing to pick between the two sides and the game could easily have gone either way, Fell was put in space down the left flank and made yards down the touchline to get his side into the danger area. The visitors were penalised and Graham tapped and went from the 22, he got to the line but was held up. Play was brought back as the Warrington defence had not been back 10m and Wooff went for the penalty to level the scores, he struck it nicely into the wind from the 22 and it sailed over.
All was to play for and Penrith got their noses in front after Jamie McNaughton ran back an upfield punt, he beat a couple of tacklers before being brought to ground, the home forwards put a series of phases together and it didn't particularly threatening when the ball came to Tom Lindsay some 30m out. He was on the charge and the defenders made the mistake of not taking him low and even with a couple hanging on to him he continued to make ground into the 22, his legs kept pumping and he kept moving forward and when Allinson came in and added his weight to the forward movement Lindsay was propelled over the line for the try and the lead. The conversion was missed into the wind and there was quarter of an hour to go.
Warrington threw all they had into attack and took on a penalty and the wind assisted kick got them to within two points. It was a nerve jangling last ten minutes but the home line held firm but not without one or two scares. They often looked to be easily keeping possession and running down the clock to then turned the ball over too easily and had to defend once more, but they held out they did record their fourth successive win. They now face a difficult trip to Northwich, another club in mid-table with a similar playing record to Penrith.