Penrith 13s are County Champions!

This year’s crop were determined to correct that oversight against Cockermouth at a windy (when is it not?) Lowmoor Road today.

With a good number of supporters watching on for both teams the lads from both teams served up a treat especially considering the conditions. It is a safe to say that for many of the lads from these two teams this will not be their last cup final!

Penrith started with the wind behind them and were the brighter side as they applied pressure effectively with Adam Parker and Aidan Youngs attacking the flanks well supported by Vince Chan tackling anything that moved. Sam King and Will Holme also helped keep the pressure on and it finally paid off in the sixth minute when Adam Parker went over for the games opening try on the left flank (5-0).

The restart was taken brilliantly by Parker and he off-loaded cheekily with a reverse pass but Cockermouth were keen to exert some pressure of their own and managed to turn the ball over in the loose through some impressive rucking. Jamie Braithwaite tackled well for Penrith though and managed to regain possession and fed Greg Judge who tore off down the flank only to be forced into touch. Cockermouth won the resulting line-out but superb work in the maul meant Penrith wrestled the ball back well and applied more pressure. Eventually persistence paid off when Jamie Fawcett picked and went round the fringes and exhibited real strength to break two tackles and dive over for a try converted by Nathan Fidler (12-0).

Cockermouth rallied though and through some effective play down the middle of the Penrith defence they managed to suck the defence in and then spin it to the right wing and go over in the corner (12-5). Penrith managed to keep the ball in the opposition half again with Fawcett bossing the game now. Penrith then managed to win a scrum against the head and Fawcett scampered away down the blindside to make the half time score 17-5.

As the teams turned around the question was had Penrith taken sufficient advantage of the wind and built up a large enough lead? It appeared not as Cockermouth dominated the early possession and when a box-kick by Fawcett drifted into the middle of the park on the wind Cockermouth ran it back at pace and went over (17-10). It wasn’t long after the restart when they went over again despite some great tackling by Scott Bradley and George Wilson making the score even at 17 all. Cockermouth clearly had the momentum as well as the wind behind them now and the Penrith coaches feared the worst.

But this side have shown they are made from stern stuff and even when the restart failed to travel 10 Penrith managed to turn the ball over with Fawcett once again demonstrating impressive controlled aggression in the loose but some counter rucking by Cockermouth meant they kept Penrith pinned down in their half. It took two impressive runs from deep from the powerful Billy Waistell supported well by Ollie Baty and Sam King to gain some relief for Penrith. The feeling was it was only a matter of time before Cockermouth made the advantage pay but then Waistell managed to claim a loose ball and took off down the flank beating the cover defence through sheer will power making the score 22-17 with four minutes left on the clock. Could they hold out?

They did better than that as the restart was superbly handled by Penrith and they got back up field. A maul resulted in the centre of the pitch and a great rip by Alex Verrall regained possession for Penrith who fed fullback Greg Judge who ran around the Cockermouth backline to put the result beyond doubt much to the delight of the watching supporters and parents. Aidan Youngs converted well making the final score 29-17 to Penrith.

Penrith Squad:
Alex Verrall Ollie Batey Charlie McCleod Nathan Fidler Ryan Williamson Scott Bradley William Holme Jamie Fawcett Jamie Braithwaite Sam King Will Holiday Adam Parker Greg Judge Luke Day Aiden young Billy Waistall George Wilson Vincent Chan