Penrith have only had one really poor performance this season and it was down at Wilmslow where they went down 40-12. They have been desperate to put the record straight and they got their chance on Saturday and also the opportunity to secure fourth place in the league, Wilmslow sitting one place below them with a game in hand were the only side that could catch them. They took their chance with both hands but early on it looked as if it might be a repeat of the first fixture.
Penrith started with some intent but were caught out when they lost possession and the visitors manufactured an overlap, a missed tackle compounded the situation and the home side were a try down. Mike Fearon struck a penalty for Penrith when the visitors were offside from the restart but at this stage Wilmslow looked the better side and scored a second try after a concerted period of attacking deep in the home 22. Wilmslow led 12-3 and looked good value for it with the home side on the back foot.
Penrith's young side didn't see it like that and stuck to their task, they kicked a penalty to the corner and from the lineout drove for the line, they were initially held up but a second drive seemed to have got South African prop Sanele Mtembu over the line but a penalty had been awarded to the attacking side, they kicked for the corner again but failed to win the lineout.
At this stage Ed Swale was off the field with a nasty cut to his nose and James Spencer came on as his blood replacement and showed what a good player he is and also how adaptable he is as he buzzed about at scrum half rather than his favoured fullback role. Wilmslow won a scrum on their 22 but failed to find touch with the clearance kick which was fielded by Steven Cherry at full back, he ran the ball back into traffic but made ten yards more than he should have done and when the ball appeared out of the ruck Spencer saw the space, took off and his arcing run took him into the 22 and to the corner and he should have been stopped but he managed to wriggle over. The conversion was missed but the game now began to turn.
Penrith won a lineout on the visitors 22 but possession was very scrappy and when the ball came to the backs the pass went astray and Pale Tuilagi ended up gathering it up off the floor behind him and with nothing on just looked to retain possession, he avoided a couple of tacklers, shimmied past a couple more and found he had a clear run to the posts. An easy conversion for Fearon and the home side had their noses in front for the first time.
Penrith were playing with a strong wind behind them and looked to need a decent half time lead but actually turned round behind as in the final play of the half they had a clearance kick charged down, missed another two chances to clear their lines before losing possession and conceding a soft try.
The wind was not to prove an issue though as neither side played a kicking game and as the Cumbrian's defence improved in the second half they dominated the game and scored 33 unanswered points. They scored shortly after half time after a good period of phases with the whole side involved which ended with Jamie McNaughton squeezing over in the corner, they had their noses in front again at 20-17 and although they did not score again until into the final quarter they didn't look threatened from here on in.
Their next score also involved most of the side with Tama Toomata being prominent and James Hogg playing the ball nicely out of contact to JJ Key who broke the line and was left with one last defender to beat who he neatly stepped to score under the posts, not bad for a second row forward! The biggest cheer of the afternoon came shortly afterwards as Penrith battered the visitor's line, Harlan Corrie cleared out a ruck just short of the line and when the ball came to Fearon he set up Mtembu on his outside who dived in to the delight of the whole side and most of the 400 watching the game.
When Cherry and Henry Hadfield combined wide on the right Hadfield was only denied after his strong run when he was held up over the line. Penrith had the put in to the 5m scrum and most of those watching knew what was going to happen next, Toomata broke from No8 and has he had been doing all afternoon broke a couple of tacklers before spotting the ball down over the line. Following another strong run by Hadfield it only remained for Spencer to snipe down the right of the breakdown to add the final score from close range and bring to an end a satisfying afternoon's rugby.
The coaching staff did point out that without individual errors it could have been a lot more but they could not hide their pleasure at a job well done.