Good conditions for running rugby prevailed on Sunday 1st April as the Penrith Under 13 team welcomed their opposite numbers from Kirkby Lonsdale, the newly crowned County Cup champions. The Penrith team were keen to gain revenge for their semi-final loss to the ultimate winners of the cup competition and were eager to give a good account of themselves after a poor performance in the earlier encounter.

From the start, that eagerness was apparent with the home players starting strongly and within the first few minutes they put down their marker when David Whittle showed his pace to score the first try of the game. With the forwards battling well the backs enjoyed the good quality ball they received and each of the players was keen to make in-roads into the opposition territory. On numerous occasions, strong running and good support play saw the Penrith team advance towards the visitors try line, who did well to keep them at bay until a second try from David Whittle and then from Freddie Pritchard finished off good moves to move the hosts further in front. The majority of the half was played in Kirkby Lonsdale territory and even when their opponents did break free the home players dealt well with the threats they posed with resolute tackling to result in a score of 15-0 at the half time whistle.

Despite changes in personnel as the full Penrith squad was utilised, the second half continued in the same fashion as the first with the visitors unable to deal with the strong running demonstrated by the home team. A determined effort by the Kirkby Lonsdale players, who stuck to their task throughout the match, to get themselves on the scoreboard was confronted with an equally determined Penrith team who defended strongly while producing good attacking rugby of their own to stretch their lead. Additional tries were scored by the home team through good team play with the ball passing through the hands of several players. Keegan Shaw scored the first try of the second half and this was added to by two tries from Patrick Noutch and then another from Freddie Pritchard, all showing excellent pace and support play. The eighth try of the match was scored by Thomas Graves who charged through the centre of the defence to bring the final score to 40-0 in favour of Penrith.

This was an entertaining and good natured match in which the Kirkby Lonsdale team, with a few regular players absent, showed a commendable effort to continue to push the Penrith team to the final whistle. The Penrith team, however, showed a great deal of tenacity to stop their visitors getting on the scoreboard and were able to put in a good team performance to secure an excellent result. All Penrith players involved in this match played their part in this victory demonstrating the good strength in-depth and great team spirit of this squad.

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