Kirkby Lonsdale Under 13’s 12 – 10 Penrith Under 13’s

After having endured a long spell without a match due to unfavourable weather conditions the Penrith under 13 squad travelled to Kirkby Lonsdale on Sunday 26th February for the semi-final of the County Cup.

Having beaten the Kirkby Lonsdale team at the start of the year the Penrith players were confident of doing well in this fixture but from the outset it was obvious that the home team were not going to let the Penrith team settle into their game and they fiercely contested every ruck and maul.

The Penrith team were strong in defence but it was the Kirkby Lonsdale team which was exerting all of the pressure with only the occasional glimpse of the attacking rugby that the Penrith team are capable of. It was not until the game approached the half-way mark that a score was achieved and it was the home team who deservedly scored the first try of the game which was converted. However, before the half time whistle the Penrith team finally applied some pressure of their own and this resulted in Patrick Noutch crossing the line to score to make the half time score 7 – 5 in Kirkby Lonsdale’s favour.

The second half continued in pretty much the same way as the first with the Kirkby Lonsdale players looking the more dominant but great defence from the Penrith players preventing them from building on their lead. Then following on from an attacking passage of play from the Penrith team they managed to take a slender lead through a try from David Whittle.

The Penrith team tried to hold onto that lead for the final ten minutes but were under constant pressure close to their try line and eventually Kirkby Lonsdale managed to score a try towards the dying minutes of the game to regain the lead and ultimately win the match.

Although the final score of 12 – 10 saw Penrith lose their first game of the season each player played very well and can be proud of their determined performance but were beaten by opposition displaying a better team effort on the day.

The Penrith squad consisted of: Patrick Bennett, Jake Borgogno, Thomas Broadhead, Adam Cutting, Ben Dixon, Jake Edmondson, Syd Ellwood, Alex Fawcett, Thomas Graham, Thomas Graves, Nathan Hamilton, Myles Harrop, Ellis Hook, Adam Howe, Patrick Noutch, Alex Pantechis, Freddie Pritchard, Keegan Shaw, Joseph Tidmarsh, Liam Trevaskis, Lewis Watt, David Whittle.