After a disappointing performance away from home the week before Penrith showed what a different prospect they are at Winters Park comprehensively beating a decent Burnage side. They blitzed them with four tries early in the game and then picked them off as the they tried to chase the game in the second half and ran out comfortable winners.
George Graham set his side up early on when the visitors overthrew at their lineout in the Penrith half, Graham was quick to spot the chance and took the ball as it cleared the Burnage jumper at the back of the line and got clean away, he did his best to link up with the cover deep in the visitor's 22 but didn't quite manage but Penrith were camped on the Burnage line.
Graham nearly forced his way over after a maul was driven to the line, Matt Allinson and Jay Rossi then combined in the centre and Allison got over taking a return pass but the ball was adjudged forward. Penrith finally broke the visitor's defence following another Dan Richardson take at the lineout deep in the 22, the ball was shifted to the backs and Jon Fell nearly made the line taking an inside ball off the blindside wing. The ball then went right and Ed Swale might have put Jamie McNaughton away but stepped back inside into traffic, Graham then finally forced his way over from the base of a ruck on the try line.
Penrith scored a second almost immediately, they were awarded a penalty at the restart which Graham took quickly, he was past the first line of defence before they knew what had happened and as he was closed down he couldn't find a clean pass to his support so chipped the ball ahead into the path of McNaughton, he took the ball easily as it sat up nicely for him and went in at the corner.
Penrith then scored from the restart, the drop outs were finding Will Morgan with regularity and this time he took the ball, rolled away from the chasers and made ground himself, Graham as always was awake to the situation and was on his shoulder and he found Rossi who showed a clean pair of heels to the cover to make the line.
Three tries in as many minutes and another shortly after, this one was set up by Allinson on the charge who made the break, put Rossi away who set up McNaughton for his second try and a 24 point lead.
A shell shocked Burnage side then began to pull themselves back into the game and enjoy a bit of possession themselves, they spent some time in the home 22 and although the home defence was good they eventually produced a try from a penalty kicked to the corner, a catch and driven maul to the line.
The Cumbrians scored a fifth try as the first half drew to a close, again a penalty was kicked to the corner and Ian McDowell found Richardson in the middle of the Penrith lineout, this time instead of setting up the usual maul he surprised the defenders and set off himself and made the line for a well taken try.
Penrith turned round 29-5 to the good and were soon on the scoresheet again, they won a scrum against the head and Mike Raine was away and made ground as he always does, there was then a couple of phases and as the ball squirted out of the ruck Raine was there to take it at pace, he cleared the first line of tacklers then released McNaughton who appeared on his shoulder. He lit the afterburners, swerved in and then arced out to score in the left hand corner to claim his hat trick.
Burnage then came back strongly and showed they could play a bit as well, they strung the phases together and showed they would have been more than a handful if the home side had not got off to as good a start. The visitors at this stage were trailing by 29 points and threw caution to the wind and were a tad unfortunate to be caught on the hop. A lose pass was thrown in the home 22 and Swale was on it in a flash and made ground to half way before releasing McNaughton who initially looked as if he would run the try in but was closed down. Fell was in support and he found Swale who dived in for the try.
On the left wing Fell was the next to benefit from Burnage's over ambition and picked up a stray pass, he was clean away and when closed down set replacement Josh Dowson away and no one was catching him.
The visitors did have the final word and ran the ball at pace from their own 22, chipped ahead and won the race to the line, Penrith were delighted with their win but would be the first to admit they were flattered by the final scoreline and they will certainly be in a tight contest when the return fixture comes around.
David Preston will be checking on the injuries to some of his key men, Allinson left the field in the first half with a gashed head, Raine limped off with what looked like a sprained ankle and Rossi also limped off late on. Penrith after losing the first two games of the season have got themselves nicely placed only three points adrift of second place but the trick now will be to pick some wins up away from home starting at Blackburn next time out. All the sides in the middle of the league are strong at home so it will be no easy task but if they want to progress that has to be the target.