After several weeks of hard training the Penrith under 13 squad was eager to get their first match underway and played host to Darlington Mowden Park RFC on Sunday 18th September.

Mowden Park started well but a break by their backs was stopped short of the Penrith try line by good tackling. A quick counter-attack with good passing saw Keegan Shaw race away and score the first try of the match. Alex Pantechis added the conversion.

Penrith did not allow the visitors to settle and great play by the forwards saw them approach the Mowden Park try line through several phases of play until David Whittle was released to score the games second try.

The Penrith forwards continued to battle well for the ball and move it forward at pace before releasing the backs and this resulted in two further tries, scored by Patrick Noutch and then David Whittle.

Utilising the full squad saw several changes made to the Penrith team and Mowden Park took advantage whilst the new players settled into the game and they were able to score two tries of their own either side of half time.

Strong tackling and solid work in defence slowed down the Mowden Park resurgence before a strong run from Myles Harrop saw Penrith score another try.

Undaunted, Mowden Park came back and scored their third try of the game but Penrith’s ability to rotate a large squad saw them finish the stronger and three break-away tries saw the home side clear.

David Whittle scored his third try which was converted by Alex Pantechis. This was followed by a try from Freddie Pritchard for which Patrick Noutch added the conversion. Finally, Patrick Noutch broke through to score Penrith’s eighth try of the match which he also converted.

The final score of 48 – 15 was a great result and the good interplay between forwards and backs was evidence to the effort that has been put into pre-season training. The whole squad contributed to this well deserved win against hard-working opponents.

The Penrith squad consisted of: Patrick Bennett, Lewis Birkbeck, Jake Borgogno, Thomas Broadhead, Adam Cutting, Jake Edmondson, Syd Ellwood, Alex Fawcett, Euan Gillespie, Thomas Graves, Nathan Hamilton, Myles Harrop, Ellis Hook, Adam Howe, Jack Huddart, Matthew McFadden, Will Melling, Patrick Noutch, Alex Pantechis, Freddie Pritchard, Kyle Ryder, Keegan Shaw, Liam Trevaskis, Fergus Vecqueray, Lewis Watt, David Whittle.