Penrith 13’s Impress Against Vale of Lune in County Cup Warm-Up

Penrith decided to try out a few players and ring the changes later in the game. For Vale’s part, they had some players at a Lancashire County game so they too were juggling their squad somewhat.

Penrith started well with Billy Waistell attacking the line at speed and causing chaos as a result. Nathan Fidler then exhibited some sublime running skills and ghosted through three tackles and found support outside him only for the ball to be lost forward. Penrith kept the pressure on though with Sam King terrorising the Vale backline and Max Lancaster taking the ball up well from the Number 8 position. The pressure finally paid off with Waistell demonstrating his speed and power once again. Fidler brilliantly converted from out wide (7-0).

Penrith managed to regain possession from the restart with George Wilson breaking well down the short side. Will Holme supported well in the loose and Waistell was soon over again but after a debate the referee decided he had failed to ground the ball properly so the try was disallowed.

Vale then enjoyed a period of pressure with Charlie McLeod tackling well for Penrith. The pack then managed to ruck the physically larger Vale forwards off the ball and fed the backs well. After good work by Aidan Young and Greg Judge, Waistell scampered away as he does to score under the posts and with Youngs converting Penrith took a 14-0 lead. Will Holliday was replaced by Ryan Williamson due to a recurrence of his injured hand and some bone crunching tackling by Vince Chan and Judge made a break that might have extended the Penrith lead going into half time bar a wayward foot in touch.

Penrith made a couple more changes during the break with Alex Verrall on at No.8 and captain Jamie Fawcett on at scrum half. Fawcett and Lancaster combined well to get Penrith out of their 22 and gain ground. Vale thought they had cleared their lines well only for the loose ball to fall to Judge who picked up and ran the ball back at pace scoring in the corner (19-0).

The drizzly rain increased and contributed to a slightly scrappy period of play with a fair number of scrums. Penrith started to struggle in the scrums and were penalised for an early engagement but Vale couldn’t live with the pace of the backs and back-row. Fawcett was also settling into the game and although is guilty perhaps of holding on to the ball at times, made good ground more than once as the play moved up-field into the Vale 22. Fawcett showed he could drive low and hard following an impressive display of rucking by the Penrith pack and scored to stretch the lead to 26-0 as Youngs converted well.

Vale then enjoyed their longest period of possession and got on top at the breakdown pinning Penrith in their 22. Penrith held out well with Ollie Baty, Jamie Braithwaite and Scott Bradley battling well but they didn’t manage to clear their lines when they had more than one chance to do so and the inevitable happened with Vale forcing their way over to make the final score 26-5.

The large crowd had witnessed a very good game that both sides could be proud of. A return fixture with both sides at full strength would be an exciting and enjoyable fixture.

Man of the Match – Max Lancaster