Colts v Carlisle Nat Cup R2

Penrith v Carlisle R2 Nat Cup

Penrith fielded a squad that included seven changes to the pack and that’s where Carlisle took control of the game. We started well with a penalty and a try as we dominated early possession and territory in the opening minutes. However, the second quarter saw the tables start to turn as our handling errors and penalty count increased. The home-side were stronger in the scrums and started to impose themselves with counter rucks turning over the ball far too easy. Carlisle finished the first half with the upper hand with two tries to one. The second half remained tight with Penrith doing most of the defending, we were living off of scraps and our backline couldn’t really get going. Carlisle added a further two penalty kicks to Penrith’s one but the damage had already been done. Full-time score, 18 – 14 to Carlisle.

Penrith kicked off and started on the front foot with good pressure in and around the rucks that kept us pressing the 22m. With the ball turned over and a penalty advantage fizzled out the three points on offer were taken by fly-half, Fraser Nicolson. Penrith kept up the momentum from the restart again taking the fight into the home-sides half. From a ruck on the 10m, scrum-half Hugh Burne was aware of the Carlisle backline stepping up quick, a dummy pass, sidestep and an injection of pace put him into space behind the defence. His angled run and diving slide took him into the right corner with the fullback and winger in tow. Within minutes of the restart, it was Carlisle’s turn.

Their first score came from a comedy of errors! A late Penrith tackle was made on the halfway. Then the resulting kick failed to find touch and we chose to run the ball into contact inside our 22m rather than clearing our lines. Carlisle was quickest to react, a double tackle turned over the ball that was quickly distributed down the backline for a try into the left corner.

We pressed forward from the restart and were once again surging onto the 5m looking likely to score. Carlisle turned the ball over the referee's whistle blew loud and out came a yellow card for an infringement against a Carlisle player. The home side defended well from a chosen scrum 5m. Within minutes we had another penalty on the 5m on the right touchline. Hugh’s quick tap and go should have scored as none of the Carlisle players had retreated over the try line. Out came another yellow card for the tackler to spend his allotted seven minutes in the bin.

Fraser added three-point that gave us some breathing space. But Carlisle refused to let their heads go down, instead, it seemed to stir an added determination within their ranks, their pack were working overtime to make up for the missing lads. We played our part, this time we were falling foul of the referee with a number of penalties conceded. Tap and goes along with a good passage of play saw the phases drive up onto our 5m, then onto the try line where our defence was finally breached. Half time score, 12 – 11

Carlisle was again gifted easy points, from the referee's whistle at the start of the second half. A knock-on from a failed catch, then a player in front of the ball picking it up was punished with an easy kick between the posts. The second half remained tight with the main difference being the home sides work rate upfront. We weren’t looking after the ball, we had too many handling errors and we were getting counter rucked as our body angles weren’t low enough. As we entered the last quarter we conceded another penalty within easy kicking distance.

We clawed back three points almost straight away from a Carlisle lineout on their 22m. It was messy, but they retained possession but didn’t release the ball in the ruck. Fraser added the points with 15 minutes remaining, we struggled to get a foothold in the game as Carlisle kept up the pressure as the clock ran down. In the last play of the game, Fraser weaved some magic from our lineout on the halfway. He made a break down the right-wing, however, his studs let him down as the attempted sidestep to cut back inside the last defender ended in a slip and a sliding tackle into touch on the 22m. Full-time score 18 – 14.

A valiant effort all round with a disappointing result, but one we can bounce back from. A huge thanks is also extended to Luke Coulston, Aaron Cavaghan and Mueed Ijaz who stepped in to bolster our depleted squad.

Next game, weather permitting is away to Ponteland on Sunday 24th Nov, 1 pm kick-off.