Kirkby Lonsdale Under 13’s 28 – 63 Penrith Under 13’s

With a number of games falling foul of the winter weather the Penrith under 13 squad travelled to Kirkby Lonsdale on Sunday 22nd January without having played a match for over a month and each member of the large squad were eager to get back into the action.

With both teams having large numbers of players available it was decided to play the match over four 15 minute quarters to allow an opportunity for the coaches to utilise the whole of both squads and for everyone to get a good run-out.

As expected the game started off with maximum effort being put in by both sides and the early exchanges were very even until eventually Freddie Pritchard managed to break away to score the opening try of the game for Penrith. The home team continued to offer tough resistance, however, and scored a converted try of their own, to finish the first quarter slightly ahead on the scoreboard.

In the next period the Penrith players began to build up a rhythm and great play by both forwards and backs resulted in them scoring five tries and establishing a lead. Although Kirkby Lonsdale continued to battle well and scored another converted try, both individual skills and excellent teamwork from the Penrith players resulted in tries for Freddie Pritchard, with his second, Ben Dixon, Myles Harrop, Keegan Shaw and David Whittle. Patrick Noutch added two conversions to give the away team a comfortable half-time lead.

The next period progressed in the same way with the forwards tirelessly fighting to win possession to release the backs. Despite the long lay-off the Penrith players began to show the quality of play they had demonstrated before the Christmas break. Displaying strong rucking and mauling as well as particularly good handling and running skills Penrith were able to add to their lead with a try from Alex Pantechis, followed by two more from David Whittle, before Syd Ellwood and then Nathan Hamilton got on the score sheet. In addition, Alex Pantechis and David Whittle scored a conversion a-piece which saw the Penrith team really take control of the game during this period.

As the game entered the last quarter the match was effectively over but Kirkby Lonsdale showed admirable determination and they piled the pressure on the Penrith players as they ran out of steam. Taking the upper-hand the home team thoroughly deserved the two converted tries they scored before the final whistle.

The final score of 63 - 28 in favour of Penrith came from very good team work and despite the score line the home team presented a tough challenge and the Penrith players had to work very hard for this result. The whole team tackled well with players showing willingness and determination to play well for each other and with both forwards and backs getting on the score sheet it was a good result all round.

The Penrith squad consisted of: Lewis Birkbeck, Jake Borgogno, Thomas Broadhead, Adam Cutting, Ben Dixon, Jake Edmondson, Syd Ellwood, Alex Fawcett, Euan Gillespie, Thomas Graves, Nathan Hamilton, Myles Harrop, John Hartley, Adam Howe, Jack Huddart, Patrick Noutch, Alex Pantechis, Freddie Pritchard, Kyle Ryder, Keegan Shaw, Joseph Tidmarsh, Fergus Vecqueray, David Whittle.