Conditions were atrocious at West Hartlepool’s Brinkburn ground on
Saturday for the Penrith game. The temperature was little above freezing with a serious wind chill factor and there was plenty of surface water on the pitch after heavy rain in the North East. They were the sort of conditions to sort the men from the boys and before
the end of the game they certainly did!
Penrith started brightly enough and created a string of chances. Ed
Swale's jinking run cut clean through the Hartlepool cover but the
scoring pass was put down, they were on the front foot and with the
slope and wind in their favour were playing deep in home territory. The
first score soon came, James Sanderson making his first start in the
back row caught the home stand off in his own 22, the ball was spilt
and when Paul Newton gathered it and sent Ryan Johnson on his way he
had an easy run in at the corner.
The Cumbrians continued to press and when the home side were penalised
at the lineout Steve Wood stepped up to slot the penalty to pull the
lead out to eight points. At this stage Hartlepool were not getting a
look in as Penrith dominated field position and possession, the cold
seemed to be getting to them at this early stage and at least one more
scoring pass was put down and other half chances went begging.
Hartlepool did start to get a foothold in the game and on the half hour were competing but looked to have their resurgence killed off when
Wood, as he so often does, read the midfield pass, took the
interception and ran the try in from half way, his conversion gave the
visitors a 15 point cushion and all looked to be going to plan even if
the lead should have been at least double.
Penrith often seem to relax in the final minutes of the first half,
this happened once more and a couple of silly penalties saw the home
side go from posing no threat to having a good attacking position in
the Penrith 22. They took full advantage and a converted try changed
the face of the game as they turned round only 15-7 down with the
elements in their favour in the second half.
Penrith didn’t help themselves early on trying to run the ball out of
their own 22, getting caught and from the start of the second period
defending on their own line.This only encouraged the home side and they
warmed to their task. They soon had their second try, cold Penrith
hands fumbled the ball at a lineout 5m from their own line and
Hartlepool accepted the gift with relish, snapped up the ball and
barged over.
Penrith still had a slender lead but it never looked like being enough
as the home side ramped up their effort, it was not pretty and it was
far from being attractive rugby but it was exactly what was required on
the day. Out and out hard gutsy play was what they offered and it was
rewarded with another try and a penalty for a deserved win.
Penrith were playing the bottom of the table side who had only won
three games prior to this game and were left literally hanging on for their losing bonus point at the end. They had about half the side competing for all they were worth and the other half were missing presumed frozen. It was of course the same temperature for both sides.
It was a very disappointing performance, the only consolation was the
sides in the relegation zone made no headway and that is one game less
for them to catch up.