Penrith went into last Saturday’s game with a massive point to prove both to themselves and to the visiting Sandal side who had put 81 points past them at the beginning of the season on a baking hot September afternoon in Wakefield. Penrith had been appalling that day, no one wants to concede that number of points but it had brought them down to earth with a bump and many aspects of their play had improved dramatically since then, mainly their first up tackling.
This game hardly started ideally for the Cumbrians giving away the softest of tries after only five minutes. After being under a bit of pressure they won a scrum on their own line and rather than clear their lines they allowed the ball to squirt over the line for the simplest of touchdowns. The successful conversion saw them trailing by seven points.
In the long run this wasn’t as bad as it first seemed, it appeared to alter the visitor’s mindset and they turned their thoughts from securing a win to was it going to be a 50, 60 or 70 pointer, they visibly relaxed. This wasn’t the Penrith side they had faced in the first half of the season as they found out when they were brought to a juddering halt on numerous occasions on the gain line.
After kicking a bit aimlessly early on Penrith started to make better use of the ball and gained a bit of field position and when Sandal were penalised for being offside on their own 22 Steve Wood pulled back three points with a well hit penalty. He missed another attempt from wide out before the home side took the lead with a well taken try. Ben Littleton chased back a clearance kick and gathered it on half way and it looked for all the world as if he was going to get swallowed up by the chasers but he managed to hold the ball up and find his support, man of the match James Hogg stormed forward and when the ball came wide Sandal had forwards in the backline and the home backs picked them off, first Neil Warnock put Mike Hawley into space then he put Jon Fell away on the outside, Fell drew the last defender and put the ball back inside to Hawley who romped in. Wood converted and Penrith were away.
They then scored a textbook try, Mike Raine took the ball off the top of the lineout, Gary Hodgson and Mike Stephens ran it up in midfield before the backs were set away and Warnock again put Hawley into space and he showed the defence a clean pair of heels. This time Wood didn’t manage the conversion but despite conceding a late penalty the home side had an encouraging 15-10 lead at the break.
Serious words were obviously spoken to the visitors at half time and their second half performance was much more workmanlike. From the off they pinned the Cumbrians in their own 22 and kept it simple. They got a penalty chance which went just wide but they were eventually rewarded with a try in the corner which was well converted off the touchline. There then followed 20 minutes of stalemate, play was confined to the middle third of the pitch and both sides were cancelling each other out, neither team could create any clear chances and then with only a couple of minutes on the clock with play on the Penrith 22 the visitors manufactured a drop goal opportunity that was nicely taken for a five point advantage.
Play went into stoppage time and it looked as if the home side would have to be satisfied with a losing bonus point and a decent performance as a clearance kick missed touch. It didn’t look too promising as Ed Swale scrambled to collect the ball but he found Fell who was in full flight. He moved across the field and made ground before playing a beautiful flighted pass out of the tackle, Littleton took the ball at pace and lit the afterburners and made for the corner. The cover got to him five yards out but couldn’t stop him in full flight, he went in at the corner to level the scores. Wood had a difficult conversion off the touchline to win the game, it had the distance but not quite the direction. The final whistle went immediately and Penrith were left to think what if. They could and maybe should have won but if you level the scores with the last play of the game you have to be happy with a draw and it was about a fair result.
Penrith proved to themselves they need fear no one especially at Winters Park, a bit of form against some of the lower placed sides away from home and a decent league position should be within their grasp.