Penrith faced league leaders Burnage at Winters Park last Saturday on the back of a run of seven straight defeats, they ran them very close and there can be little doubt that were they in a better run of form with a bit more confidence they would have turned them over.
Penrith have struggled to get anything like their best fifteen on the pitch in 2020 but this side was as near as they have got and they started the game well on the front foot and were ahead after seven minutes. Fraser Nicolson put a great touch finder into the corner from a penalty for an attacking lineout and the home side worked the catch and drive well and look odds on to score when the driven maul went down, the referee penalised the Burnage forwards for collapsing the maul and the penalty was put into the corner for a second lineout.
Craig Price found Dan Richardson jumping in the middle of the line and the home forwards again drove for the line, this time they kept on their feet and Tom Lindsay was at the back of the maul to claim the try.
The visiting backs looked dangerous throughout the game and went close to scoring after breaking out of their own 22 but the chip ahead to the try line went dead.
It was the home side though who scored next, livewire scrum half Dalton Frith got the ball away quickly to his stand off Nicolson and he fed the ball back inside to blindside winger Josh Dowson on the charge, he broke the first line of defence and then slipped the ball to Lindsay in support who pinned his ears back and went for the line. The cover could not quite get to his arcing run and he touched down for his second try.
There had not been much evidence of the visitor's table topping pedigree in the opening quarter and Penrith looked the better side but they came into the game as the first half wore on, they had perhaps written too much into the home side's recent form and expected an easy ride. They missed a penalty attempt before opening their account with a nice play in midfield that opened up the home defence and they scored in the corner. Shortly afterwards they took the lead breaking out of their own 22 using steady scrum ball for a sweeping move, the scrambling home defence got to them and looked to have killed the ball on the line but not to the liking of the referee who awarded a penalty try.
They then kicked a penalty just before the break when Penrith were caught offside and they had a 15-10 advantage at the break.
Penrith were very slow out of the blocks in the second half and for 20 minutes were hardly out of their own half, when they did get possession of the ball they seemed to cough it up immediately and put themselves back under pressure. They did however keep their line intact and when they got back into the game and put in a strong finish they were only one score down and a converted try at the death would have seen them pull off the win.
They did go close on a number of occasions, a quickly taken penalty by Ian McDowell saw them get to the visitor's line but in their attempt to get over the line they were penalised. Nicolson twice slid penalty kicks right into the corners from distance for and attacking lineout but they could convert them into a score. At the death they had a 5m scrum head on to the posts and won steady ball but again couldn't take advantage.
The league leaders were relieved when the final whistle went and collected the points but the final play was a disaster for the home side as Chris Jackson went down and was later taken to hospital with an ankle dislocated and broken in three places. Also limping off and unlikely to be fit this week were Dalton Frith, Jay Rossi and Brad Quail which will make the trip to Northwich another difficult one.