Penrith's match at Westoe on Saturday was a game too far. They should
have won the previous Saturday against Waterloo and then their season was
effectively over the Tuesday night when they were beaten in the county
cup, it was just a matter of getting this final game of an awful
year out of the way.
Westoe were still not mathematically safe from relegation, they needed
one point to be absolutely sure of their place in the league and the
different attitude of the two sides was clear to see. Penrith however started the game
brightly and for once they had a bit of luck, in the second minute Mike
Fearon put a diagonal kick into the home 22, the fullback allowed the
ball to bounce and it evaded him. Jon Fell was following up at pace and
was able to get to the ball marginally before the fullback, wrestle it
off him and go in under the posts.
The Cumbrians early lead did not last long as their defence looked
brittle every time Westoe attacked and they hit back with two quick
converted tries. The Penrith tacklers were in the main fetching their
men down but they were on the back foot, failing to stop them on the
gain line and making it easy for them to play the ball out of contact.
They did get on the scoreboard again when a knock on at the restart
gave them possession and Westoe eventually were penalised under their
own posts and Fearon slotted the penalty.
Penrith were still in the game at 14-10 down but further tries from the South Shields outfit looked inevitable and although there was a lull in the scoring further scores came. Penrith did manage to play a bit of rugby when they did have possession and were to score again after being awarded a couple of penalties deep in the home 22, Fearon made the half break and looked to be isolated but he was able to delay the pass long enough for Phil Armstrong to appear on his shoulder and take the scoring pass.
Penrith turned around trailing 38-17 and faced a second half having had to make three enforced changes following injuries to Paul Newton, Gary Hodgson and Tom Dawson, although Newton and Hodgson did re-join the fray they were clearly far from being fully fit. The Westoe pitch has distinct slope on it and in addition Penrith would have to face their opposite numbers with their tails up charging down the hill.
The omens were not good and from a Penrith perspective the second half is probably better forgotten, Westoe were to score eight tries and the two bright spots were a strong Jon Fell run down the right which created a try for Pale Tuilagi and Fearon picking the ball up in broken play and then picking his way through the defence to the line.
Penrith conceded a record number of points but one thing is for sure if it hadn't been for Kevin Walker ably assisted by his captain Ryan Johnson the score would have been in three figures, those two knocked people back and rest did try but it was an afternoon best put behind you and one the Penrith club will be hoping they don't have to live through again