Colts v West Hartlepool - League Cup Final

Penrith v West Hartlepool League Cup Final

Penrith travelled to the North East for one last time this season to round off what has been one of the most successful years the Colts have had in a long time. The Newcastle Falcons ground at Kingston Park was the neutral venue and provided the perfect backdrop on a glorious day with some wonderful rugby.

The league playoff between the winners of the North East and Cumbria’s two main leagues, North, and South promised to be a mouth-watering clash. Ironically on one of the hottest days of the year so far, so copious amounts of water were indeed needed. Penrith faced an in-form West Hartlepool side who were also keen to finish the season on a high. Penrith had their sights firmly fixed on the job in hand knowing a victory would round off an amazing treble success, league winners, U/18 County Champs and League play-off winners. This special group of talented lads didn’t disappoint as they ground out a solid victory with a 32 – 22 win.

Penrith’s statement of intent was sent out early. From our kick-off, we managed to gather in the ball then make headway up the park onto the oppositions 22m. With no advantage gained from an earlier infringement play was brought back for Ed Smith to try to add some deserved points. With the kick sliced wide, then the 22m drop-out fumbled we were looking edgy as West pressed home the advantage. Penrith was now on the back-foot as they drove forwards offloading in contact. A quick tap and go penalty on our 22m caught us on our heels as West moved the ball out wide down the right, then the ball carrier cut an angled run in from the touchline for the first score of the game.

The wake-up button was firmly pressed from the restart. We pushed up making solid tackles along with good line speed to turn over possession with another penalty awarded. From our lineout, we moved the ball down the fringes of the rucks and then out wide down the three quarters. The pack were mobile to the breakdowns and with the ball recycled quickly gaps started to appear in the defensive line. A long searching pass went wide to the left wing, Jack Mason who was now one on one with his opposite number. A high neck tackle took him down within yards of the line, "not held" and with a penalty advantage his momentum and sheer determination took him over into the corner. Ed Smith added the difficult side-line kick, 7 – 5.

Penrith’s defence remained firm but West still managed to make line breaks that gained them good ground. Their heavier pack controlled the scrums but we managed to retain our put-ins under pressure. As we settled, our handling became more assured, our lineouts remained on the right side of the percentages and we started to move the ball well between the pack and backline. The game remained tight with the half time whistle looming. Our next try came on thirty minutes following a scrum on the halfway. The ball was moved deep down the right before being worked back infield. Prop, Bryn Jeremiah crashed over into the corner to cap off an excellent passage of play. In overtime, Penrith once again went over from the base of a scrum that started on our 10m line. Fly-half Louie Johnson switched the ball back to the blindside, via scrumhalf Hugh Burne who in turn fed the ball to the left wing, Dylan Cowperthwaite. Having received the ball on our 10m he jinked, side-stepped and then injected pure pace to power over between the posts. Louie added the extras for a half-time score of 19 – 5.

We kept up the pressure in the second half with an early try. Fullback Greg Judge tidied up a loose ball midway into West’s half. He stepped the first tackler then injected pace to go round the next defender then through a gap and between the posts, Louie converted, 26 – 5. To their credit West Hartlepool’s heads never went down, from the restart they gathered in the ball then moved it around to once again test our defence. From a penalty inside our 22m a tap and go hit up their huge number 8 who broke the double tackle to go over. We responded as Louie widened the gap further with another three points made easier with some indiscipline taking the kick 10m closer to the posts.

The game was starting to open up as once again West ramped up the intensity. Driving the rucks down the middle again paid off. Another tap and go and a couple of recycled rucks later they had another well-deserved try, 26 – 17. Louie Johnson again nudged the score up by three points with another penalty kick bang on 70 minutes to keep a point’s buffer, but it was far from full time. The referee had another five minutes to add for stoppages, sufficient enough for West to go over one last time for an unconverted try, final score 32 - 22.

Effort levels, focus, determination and a wonderful team ethic carried the Colts through to another accolade. Our last game of the season is on Sunday 5th of May at the Wigton ground where our U/17s Colts will face Keswick in another County Cup final.

On top of a successful day, a total of £427.65p was raised on the day for the Brain Tumour Research charity.