Penrith were buoyed on their trip to Sandal by the knowledge that last
time out Sandal had lost to struggling Morley. If Sandal did have a
crisis of confidence it was soon dispelled as woeful Penrith tackling
and defending allowed them to score two tries with their first two
meaningful pieces of possession and after seven minutes they lead 12-0.
Penrith had gone down by 80 plus points on their last visit but this
Sandal side were no where as slick or efficient as last season's. In
fact if Penrith had defended as well as they had the previous week
against table topping Rossendale they would have been there for the
taking, you cannot concede seven tries and expect to win games.
Penrith were to stage a come back and this was largely due to the
strong running of Sandy Kerridge who gave his opposite number, former
Penrith player James Ellar a torrid first half. Ed Swale started the
fight back running back a clearance kick, he had James Hogg in support
down the left, the ball was then spun wide to the right which gave
Kerridge the room to get into his stride, ride a couple of would be
tacklers and go in wide out.
They weren't long of scoring again, they won a lineout on the 22, the
ball came to Carl Forber who made the half break and put Ben Littleton
away. He tried to find Kerridge on the inside but the ball span lose
but it still fell to him and he brushed off a couple of tackles to make
the line and go in under the posts. Littleton's conversion levelled the
score at 12 apiece and the Cumbrians looked to have got the journey out
of their system and got over their poor start.
Their discipline then let them down, a first penalty conceded ended up
in a lineout on the 22 and a second infringement saw the defending a
lineout 5m out. The Sandal forwards worked the catch and drive and
Penrith were behind again. Again Kerridge initiated the riposte,
another marauding run down the right set up the attack and the ball was
moved across field and Phil Gardham found himself at outside centre and
set Scott Harrison away for the score to level the scores once more.
Penrith then conceded two tries in quick succession just before the
break, both down to poor tackling and neither will make good viewing
when the video of the game is replayed. From clawing their way back
into the game they now trailed 31-17 at the break.
Penrith made the better start to the second half and looked to be in
with a shout when Forber, who is clearly now finding his feet at this
code, made a clean break, took out the full back and set up Jon Fell up
for a straight run in. That was a fourth try and a bonus point and as
the score stood then there was also a losing bonus point in the offing
as they trailed by only seven points.
Penrith finished the games as poorly as they had started it conceding a
penalty kick to go ten points behind and then two poor tries as the
game drew to a close