PENRITH 17 WEST HARTLEPOOL 11

After the euphoria of the previous weekend putting six tries past top of the table Morley this clash with next to bottom West Hartlepool had a bit of an "After the Lord Mayor's Show" feel about it. Penrith's side had a number of changes because of injuries, Craig Rumney in the second row and Phil Gardham in the back row both made their first senior starts and impressed with their enthusiasm and work rate, there was also a major reshuffle in the backs.
The first half was pointless at 0-0 and instantly forgettable, the only instance of note was a break from No8 from Ryan Johnson on the visitors 22 which saw him brought down just short of the line and a second drive from David Preston which was stopped virtually on the line. It was messy and loose, Penrith's lineout and scrummage was untidy as was their play in the loose, the visitors most effective ploy was the driven maul. Although they made good ground with it and put the Penrith eight under pressure it didn't make for much of a spectacle.
The second half started with little expected after what had gone before but there was more incident in the opening five minutes than the whole of the first period. West tried to run out of their own 22 but were brought down and Penrith won a scrum on the 22. Johnson again broke from No8 and this time romped clear of the cover to claim the try. Steve Wood converted but the visitors came straight back, Wood cleared his lines from the kickoff deep into the opposition half, the chase was poor, the full-back ran the ball back and one change of direction was
enough to beat the whole defence. Wood's attempted tackle did force him to go in at the corner and the conversion grazed the outside of the post so Penrith did keep their noses in front. A Wood penalty after only seven minutes of the second period stretched the home side's lead but West immediately answered with a penalty of their own to keep the deficit at two points.
The game was being played mainly in midfield with neither team having the upper hand and Penrith's lead looked anything but safe. Penrith lost Sandy Kerridge with a damaged elbow with half an hour to go which allowed the influential Gavin Cartmel on to the field. He had a couple of good runs before the telling moment in the game with ten minutes to go. The home side were under pressure as West were pushing them back on to their own 22, they drove the ball in at Wood who robbed the ball carrier; the turnover ball was moved smartly to Joe Nattrass on the wing who accelerated away. He was being run down by the cover so chipped the ball back infield into the path of Cartmel, he hacked on
and initially looked to have put too much on it. He did reach the ball before it went over the end of the dead-ball line to claim the try, Wood converted for what looked like a match winning 17-8 lead.
Nothing is ever that simple and to their credit West came back hard and were camped on the home line, Penrith were to concede a penalty and go down to 14 men with a yellow card. The successful penalty shot brought the visitors back within a score and Penrith had to see out added time to claim the victory.
It was a deserved hard fought win and taking into consideration the changes to the side from the week before was a decent result. There are no whipping boys in this league, every win has to be earned and although not pleasing on the eye and a bit disjointed it sent everyone home happy.