Penrith came down to earth with a resounding thump this last weekend after their heroics the week before at Kendal with a scratch side. If they thought their selection and unavailability problems were bad then they had them in spades for their trip to Bradford and Bingley. With ten front line first team squad members making themselves unavailable for the game there was always going to be real problems, Penrith’s squad is no way near large enough to be able to stand that kind of fallout and put out a meaningful side.
That is not to knock those who did turn up and play, they gave there all, regained a deal of pride before the end and almost came away with a try scoring bonus point. Three men made their first team debuts, at 42 “Beef” Robinson put his body on the line once more when he shouldn’t really have had to, several played when clearly under the weather or not fully fit and others played out of position to shore up the side.
It started well enough as the home side were penalised at the kick off and Steve Wood slotted the penalty. The next ten minutes were pretty brutal, this Bradford side is noted for its physicality in the forwards but Penrith could not match their strength, size or intensity and were 17 points down in those ten minutes, 29 points down on the half hour and 34-3 down at half time.
Penrith had shown some signs in attack in the first half but to their credit came back strongly in the second half and actually drew the second period 19-19 and played some open, attacking and attractive rugby. The game as a contest was clearly over after 40 minutes and the home side’s intensity did drop a little, it still would have been easier for this Penrith side to have surrendered but they chose not to. Ed Swale until he was forced to leave the field with a groin strain played some cavalier rugby and was his jinking run from full back that set up the field position for the Cumbrian’s first try. They ran a quick tap penalty under the Bradford posts and as it came right the opportunity looked to be lost as the ball was spilt, Kris Bratton was able to gather it and squeeze in at the corner to lift his side’s spirits. Bratton scored a second try in similar circumstances shortly after, they ran another tap penalty and Ian McDowell set him up this time, still with a lot to do though he got the better of three defenders and forced his way between them.
Penrith’s all out attacking strategy did leave holes in the defence and the home side also was scoring at regular intervals, when Wood was able to put Ryan Johnson in space in front of the home posts and the big No8 ran the try in the Cumbrians had a sniff of a bonus point as there was still a bit of time left on the clock. They created one or two more scoring chances but it was not to be.
The three new boys did their reputations no harm, Mark Robson showed some real quality at the base of the scrum, Dan Coleman showed a lot of aggression and is clearly one for the future and you could not have asked for more effort than was put in by young Ryan Hunter.
With only two, recognised genuine first teamers in the back five of the scrum they were always going to be under pressure, there were however some positives. The two first teamers Johnson and James Hogg really did give it their all. Gavin Cartmel having his first proper run out after returning from a serious injury looked in reasonable shape, Kris Bratton also returning from injury is one game nearer full fitness. James Sanderson put himself about both on the wing and at wing forward.
Things will hopefully improve for the trip to Waterloo next weekend with one or two more available.