It was a bad day at the office for Penrith at Wilmslow on Saturday where they went down to their heaviest defeat of the season and came away with their tails between their legs. It was a typical "didn't get off the bus performance" as they conceded 28 points in as many minutes.
The game was won and lost in the first half hour and the fact the remainder of the game was a 12-12 draw was of little consolation. In this period they conceded four converted tries and Wilmslow became only the second club this season to take a four try bonus point off the Cumbrians.
Although Wilmslow played well it was more down to the ineptitude of the Penrith defence, the home side looked like scoring every time they had possession of the ball but after the first half hour the game slowly changed with Penrith finally making some impression on it.
The visitors managed to string some phases of play together and gain a bit of field position and finally put their hosts under a bit of pressure. Just a minute before the break Penrith were awarded a penalty on half way, as is his wont Ed Swale was awake to the possibilities and tapped and went. He caught the home side napping and made ground to the 22 where he put Darren Lee away on the wing, there was still a bit to do, he beat one tackle and spun out of another and went over in the corner. Penrith ran a penalty from their 22 for the final play of the first half and after a number of phases looked likely to score bar for a knock on. They turned around 28-5 down but with a glimmer of hope as they were improving.
They were much better in the second half but every time the tide looked as if it was turning they would give the ball away. There was some good driving play by the forwards, captain Ryan Johnson was to the fore and had his best game in a while but he was well backed up by Tama Toomata who had an abrasive game James Hogg, Jarrett Crouch and Harlan Corrie also carried the ball well. The forwards held their own, in fact they rather more than held their own but the problem was behind the scrum where there were too many poor performances. Whereas in earlier games some exhilarating back play has got them out of jail this time they couldn't take advantage of the platform the forwards gave them.
There was no score for the first 30 minutes of the second half although both sides had chances then after three 5m scrums Wilmslow finally added to their total when they moved the ball with a try in the corner. Just to make Penrith's afternoon complete Wilmslow scored from the restart but the Cumbrians did have the final say with a consolation try.
Lee got his second score of the afternoon when he came off his wing and was put through the middle, he broke a tackle in midfield and went in under the posts for Mike Fearon to convert. It was an afternoon to forget and Penrith look forward to this weekend's game at Vale Of Lune which almost passes as a local derby and hope for a much improved performance.