Penrith faced local rivals Carlisle on a foul day at Winters Park, a gale from the south blowing in rain at close to freezing temperatures made for difficult and unpleasant playing conditions, it was a remarkably good game bearing this in mind with no little amount of skill show by both sides.
The hosts knew they faced a difficult task against the array of talent assembled by their table topping near neighbours following their apparent new recruitment programme, Carlisle had first use of the elements and did not disappoint, they started the game at breakneck speed and were soon rewarded for their efforts. The home defenders were standing their ground but conceded a penalty head on to the posts in the third minute which sailed over the posts wind assisted. They soon extended their lead as they looked to sweep all before them. A penalty was kicked to the corner and although the drive from the lineout was thwarted their forwards kept crashing the ball in from close range until they scored next to the posts with a simple conversion.
Penrith were ten points down within ten minutes and the strength of the visitors looked ominous but they stuck to their task. Slowly they got into the game, prompted by Mike Raine and George Graham who both had excellent games they made progress into the wind. It wasn't pretty as conditions dictated they had to play direct rugby and this is what they did continually driving the ball in from close range and despite the aggressive tackling of the visitors they were making progress.
Carlisle were not having it all their own way and conceded a penalty or two, Penrith kicked one to the corner and looked to set up the driving maul from the lineout but the ball ran lose, they were able to gather it though and mount an assault on the line in the corner and eventually Adam Howe found the gap from close range and almost got to the line and Raine was on hand to claim the try. Into the wind the conversion was nigh on impossible. The wind then took the Carlisle restart over the deadball line and Penrith attacked again from a scrum on the centre spot.
The home side were in the ascendancy and got back on level terms after being awarded a penalty in the visitor's 22. Graham took a quick tap and go and just about got to the line, Ross Jackson almost got there with a half break but Carlisle ran out of tacklers and Ian McDowell squeezed over.
The league leader's response was immediate, a Penrith player had a foot in touch when gathering the restart so they were then defending a lineout on their 22. Carlisle took full advantage of this attacking position and put together the phases for a well taken try.
Penrith came back to level the scores again, from a scrum in the 22, Raine broke, Graham shifted the ball to Josh Dowson on the wing who went close in the right hand corner. The ball then came left as the home side battered the line and their simple plan paid off when James Hogg crashed over in the left hand corner.
It looked as if the two sides were going to go in at the break at 15 apiece which would have been an achievement for the home side playing into a gale. In stoppage time though Carlisle were awarded a penalty between the 10m and half way line. They decided to go for goal which was seemed a strange decision as they had just missed a conversion under the posts but it was the right one as the kick sailed over and that would be the score that split the sides after 80 minutes.
Penrith now had the elements in their favour and looked to get back on terms and after ten minutes got their noses in front, Raine made the break into the 22 and almost got to the line, when he was brought to ground the support arrived and looked to drive over from close range. It was Howe on the charge who made the final push to get the touchdown and Nathan Wooff with the wind at his back slotted the conversion and Penrith led 22-18.
They looked to extend their lead but couldn't managed, clean breaks were a rarity on the day but Ross Jackson got clean through and into the 22 but was closed out.
As the clock ticked down the visitors strived harder and harder to get something out of the game and Penrith were defending for all they were worth. They had won two turnovers on their own line to lift the siege but they were under pressure as the game went into the last five minutes. They were down to 14 men following a yellow card and had lost the influential Graham to injury.
They were in possession of the ball on their own line and looking to clear it, the pass to the man to clear missed him and went over the deadball line for a 5m scrum to the visitors. Carlisle had had the upper hand in the set scrums with the home side just about able to secure their own ball but the visitors seriously put the squeeze on and were edging to the home line when the referee gave the penalty try, Carlisle were ecstatic but there was still time on the clock. It was a measure of their relief, there was no thought of opening up for a fourth try and a bonus point just some up the jumper stuff to ensure the win.
The Penrith players would be very disappointed to get so close to a win against their run away neighbours but they could, on reflection, look back on an excellent performance and winning two bonus points and outscoring their opponents four tries to three and one of those a penalty try.