Winters Park has been witness to some dramatic helter skelter games in the last few years but this one was right up there with them as it ebbed and flowed first one way, then the other and finally ended up as a draw. The impartial observer would probably see a draw as a fair result, and in many ways it was, but the Penrith side knew they should have secured the win long before the game reached its final throes.
The home side started like an express train and scored before the visitors got their hands on the ball. James Thornton fielded the kick off; Gary Hodgson ran the ball up. Ryan Johnson emerged from the breakdown with the ball on the opposition side and took play to halfway. The ball was whipped wide to the left and Ed Swale made ground, Kris Bratton came off his wing, switched with Swale and hit the gap between the last two defenders, handed one of them off and ran in close to the posts and Steve Wood converted.
They almost scored from the restart, had Swale found Ben Littleton on the right wing they would have. Penrith were opening out play all over the field and running the visitors ragged and soon scored again. They won a lineout on the Rossendale 22 and when it came into midfield Wood used Hodgson as the decoy and then released Neil Warnock who hit the gap, broke a tackle to score down the middle. Wood added the conversion and soon had another, this time from a scrum on the visitors 22, Littleton came off his wing to be found by Wood, quickly moved the ball wide to Swale, up from fullback. He threw a dummy to Bratton on his outside, stepped inside the last man and scampered for the line. Penrith were 21 points up in quarter of an hour.
Rossendale only really have one game plan, they are a big solid physical side and they like to batter and bully the opposition. They reverted to type, put the ball up their jumpers and challenged the home team to stop them. Penrith defended on the back foot, allowed Rossendale to come on to them and made things very difficult for themselves. At this stage they also lost James Thornton with a head wound which didn’t help their cause.
Penrith were on their line defending an attacking 5m lineout in the corner and were penalised for a high tackle which the referee adjudged as a penalty try and an easy conversion. Rossendale were on the attack again but the guile and experience of Wood eased the pressure as he read the pass, took the interception and ran three quarters of the length of the field to score. There was a jink or two to wrong foot the chasers but he made it, again he hit the conversion, this time from wide out.
Rossendale were then to score 27 unanswered points either side of half time to turn the game on its head and from 28-7 up Penrith were trailing 28-34. They just had no answer to the visitor’s physical game and the series of rucks and rolling mauls they strung together.
As the game went into the final quarter Penrith began to get their hands on the ball on a more regular basis. They won a scrum deep in the visitor’s 22, Paul Newton went blind and found Wood in support, he went in at the corner but had a foot in touch. Penrith were on the attack again, Swale penetrated down the right and when Dan Richardson got the ball on the wing he looked certain to be pushed into touch he managed to dance down the line from the 22 almost to the line, he took the tackle and then found Ian McDowell on his inside who dived in for the score in spectacular style. Wood again converted from close to the touchline.
Penrith had their noses in front, albeit by just one point, the lead however didn’t last a minute as they were penalised at the restart, the penalty attempt was good and they then trailed by two points. With ten minutes to go Penrith were now in the ascendancy and Newton and Craig Price went close before they reclaimed the lead. Swale collected a clearance kick on half way, he and Littleton secured possession as the cover was up quickly. The ball was fired out to the left were Mike Hawley found himself on the wing, a change of pace and an outside break saw him go in at the corner. Wood, crucially, hit his sixth successful conversion out of six and the Cumbrians had a five point lead going into added time.
It was Rossendale’s turn to dominate and they battered the Penrith line, the game looked to be over as Penrith were awarded a penalty and kicked to touch for a lineout which would be the final play of the game. They then managed to get themselves penalised three times as Rossendale, knowing they could not relinquish possession of the ball played phase after phase after phase. Their ball retention was excellent and they ended up on the Penrith line and the pressure finally told and their livewire scrum half went in at the corner for his hatrick try.
Everyone on the ground held their breath, with the scores level, as the conversion attempt was struck. It went wide and both clubs had to settle for three league points (2 for the draw and a 4 try bonus point). It was a game they never should have lost but the way things worked the afternoon was not a complete disaster. Birkenhead Park who are the team most likely to threaten Penrith’s league status lost at Kendal so they were three points further behind with a game less to play.