Penrith entertained unbeaten, top of the table Rossendale on Saturday
and although they did not dent the visitor's record they would be
pretty pleased with their efforts. This may sound strange following a
defeat by 20 points but they couldn't have tried any harder whatever
and had a couple of scoring passes gone to hand and the scrummaging
been a bit better they would have run them close. As it was they were
only the third side in ten games to deny Rossendale a four try bonus
point, that didn't add to Penrith's points tally but it was something
to take from the game. Rossendale were a big, strong, efficient side
playing simple rugby and it wasn't difficult to see why they were where
they were.
Penrith started well and were always in the game, Ben Littleton almost
opened the scoring chasing down a kick bobbling about near the line,
his pace got him there a lot sooner than the fullback expected and was
lucky not to concede. Rossendale opened the scoring with a penalty
after a period of pressure, Penrith had defended stoutly in their own
22, their line was not breached but they had been penalised.
The home side looked dangerous with ball in hand, Paul Newton and Will
Morgan combined and put Gary Hodgson clear with a run at the line but
he was pulled back for a forward pass, they were however to concede
again following a poor clearance kick on their own line that only just
cleared the 22. The chase wasn't good either and presented the visitors
with an overlap on the outside that was a little too easy.
A well struck conversion put the Cumbrians 10 points behind but they
kept plugging away, a try looked on the cards when Newton cleverly put
Phil Armstrong in the clear. He linked with Jon Fell who looked as if
he might score, he was caught and Littleton couldn't quite take the
pass out of the tackle. 17 year old Jamie McNaughton beat a couple of
defenders running back a kick, linked with Fell and Penrith poured into
the visitor's 22. Rossendale were penalised at the breakdown and
Littleton slotted the penalty.
The visitors replied almost immediately with a penalty of their own but
the game was still in the balance. If Penrith could keep Rossendale out
of their 22 they could handle them and cause problems of their own.
Young scrum half Ross Jackson was making some nice sniping runs, the
forwards and Joe Ellis in particular were making some good strong runs
but they couldn't just couldn't beat the last line of defence.
Penrith turned around 10 points adrift and were soon on the attack,
Ellis again ran well and put Mike Stephens away and he also couldn't
apply the killer blow. The Penrith set scrummage had started to creak
in the first half and continued to in the second and they were to
concede a push over try. With 20 minutes to go the Rossendale forwards
were to outmuscle them again and drove a maul from a lineout on the 22
to the try line, the forwards didn't score the try as the ball was spun
wide but they had sucked all the cover in.
That was the third try and to their credit Penrith didn't allow them to
score a fourth, they continued to play some nice rugby in the final
quarter but couldn't quite unpick the visitor's defence. They are
having a difficult time with unavailabilities and injuries and a
measure of this was young McNaughton was the 35th player used this
season, it is also an opportunity as the youth players are getting a
chance to show their mettle and letting no one down.