Watching Penrith over the last couple of seasons has never been easy, it’s usually “by the seats of the pants” stuff but this game was exceptional. Probably on a par with the final day of last season where they escaped relegation with a minute and a half to spare. They have done it with two games to spare this time but the afternoon’s rugby was just as dramatic.
Of the three teams in the relegation zone only Birkenhead Park could catch Penrith and the mathematics said if Penrith avoided defeat against them they were safe and their league status would be secure.
With plenty at stake the game kicked off on a hard surface with little grass on it and disaster struck in the third minute, Mike Hawley breaking into the home 22 was tackled and in a tangle up of legs managed to sustain a broken leg. It turned out to be a compound fracture broken in two places and the game was held up for 20 minutes while an ambulance came and he could be lifted off the pitch.
After the restart Penrith had some early pressure, Steve Wood had a kick at goal which went narrowly wide but it was the home side that opened the scoring with a successful penalty kick at goal. The rest of the first half was pretty much forgettable, Penrith weren’t too bad it patches and defended well for periods but conceded two soft tries, the first down the short side from a lineout when the cover went missing and the second a walk in under the posts when a straight forward tackle in midfield was missed.
Penrith had their chances, Ed Swale in the centre to replace Hawley made some of his darting runs but the killer instinct wasn’t quite there to finish them off, the ball was crying out to be moved wide on a couple of occasions when it was run in and the chances went begging.
The Cumbrians hopes of getting anything out of the game looked to be dashed on half time when a penalty was conceded on half way and kicked to the corner for an attacking Birkenhead lineout just yards out. This is their speciality and their big forwards didn’t disappoint catching and driving for the line and bulldozing their way over. At 22-3 down at half time Penrith looked down and out
The football pundits talk about games of two halves, well this was certainly that. In hindsight the home side had lost their influential coach and prop and three of their bigger forwards looked to be carrying knocks but they still didn‘t look as if they were about to capitulate. Penrith would also have to seriously up the ante if they were to get anything out of the game and that didn’t look that likely.
Penrith’s second half performance would be their best 40 minutes of the season and it wasn’t so much the quality of rugby, which was pretty good, it was the physical intensity they brought to their game and the pressure they put on the home side just by getting in their faces.
They started the second half on the front foot and there new found eagerness forced mistakes by the home side and three quickly awarded penalties saw them with a lineout on the home line. This was the home sides hallmark but it was the Penrith forwards who won the lineout and drove for the line, half a dozen phases later Glenn Carr broke round the side of the ruck and with Ian McDowell in close support forced his way over. Wood converted and Penrith were up and running.
Penrith were straight back up the field and were again threatening the home line, this time the home centre came cynically around on the Penrith side of the ruck to kill the ball. He got a yellow card for his trouble and Wood claimed another three points with the boot.
The Cumbrians now had their tails up and were warming to the task, Birkenhead’s runners were finding they were getting knocked back and the Penrith defenders were coming at them in twos and threes. It was not long before the visitors were on the attack again and the home centre now standing on the touchline watched Steve Wood craft another score for his side as he created the space for Neil Warnock in midfield and he drifted through the gap and rounded the cover to score. Wood’s conversion pulled the score back to 22-18 and Penrith now looked favourites.
They piled on the pressure and the Penrith forwards now had the upper hand as their opposite numbers began to flag. Wood was again the provider, with the defensive line stretched to breaking point the spotted the lack of cover out wide to the right, floated a cross field kick to the spot and Swale took the ball on the run to score in the corner. Wood again slotted the kick and Penrith were three points to the good with quarter of the game to go.
The Birkenhead Park men were not going to give up without a fight and their big forwards summonsed one last mighty effort and pounded the Penrith line. It might have been enough on other days but on this day they were repelled time and time again. As they ran out of steam Penrith were able to turn defence into attack and with the home side on the back foot on their 22, Wood was able to repeat the trick. The cover was thin to the right, again he chipped the ball wide only this time it was Ben Littleton who snapped it up and sped in at the corner.
Penrith had scored 27 unanswered points in the second half and answered a lot questions over their ability, the skills are there without doubt, it is the steel that has to go with them to make it count! The players decided amongst themselves the man of the match was prop Glenn Carr and that wasn’t a bad call. There were good performances all round but the inclusion of veteran Kevin Walker who was a key member of a Penrith pack from the past that provided real bite could well have had some influence in this upturn. At the other end of the scale young Dan Richardson came on for the last quarter against some old gnarled forwards, acquitted himself well and claimed at least three turnover balls, no mean feat.
All Penrith’s players and supporters travelled home much heartened and relieved.