Penrith 2nd XV welcomed Hawcoat Park to a dry but overcast Winters Park in round 11 of the Counties 1 Cumbria League. This current Second team is sprinkled with quality First team players, and this was evident throughout the match as Penrith ran out winners 53-5.

Penrith kicked off playing towards the car park and were soon rewarded with a Scrum on the opposition 5-yard line after concerted pressure in the Hawcoat half. The dominant Hawcoat scrum sent the home team backwards thus winning the ball against the head. A quick pick up and clearance kick sent the ball deep into the Penrith half which seemingly thwarted the home team’s attack. However the ball was tapped down by Ed Smith to Fraser Nicolson, who as normal, stepped the first couple of Hawcoat defenders then moved the ball through several pairs of hands for the Harley Johnson to score out wide in the corner. 5:0

Immediately from the re-start Penrith strung together several phases of play through dominant carries from the forwards with Tunnicliffe, Morgan and King to the fore. Driving deep into the Hawcoat 22, Joe Spencely punched a big hole feeding the impressive Harley Johnson who stepped the last defender to score his second try in as many minutes. Dudson converted to make it 12:0

In the next few minutes, the pendulum began to swing towards Hawcoat Park as the big strong forwards dominated from a lineout maul and then the subsequent scrum where the Penrith pack were driven back to Pategill and the pushover try was scored. The conversion was missed making the scoreline 12:5 on 13 mins.

With both teams seemingly evenly matched physically, it was only 5 minutes until the next score. With fast line out ball off the top from Jack Huddart, the ball was moved into the centres where the ball was set up and quickly recycled. The ball was then lifted to the awaiting forwards and the effervescent Jack Tunnicliffe broke the initial tackle before being brought to the ground. He wasn’t held and so ended back up onto his feet and blasted through the last of the would be tacklers to score a superb try, much to the delight of the home support who, after this score, were whooping, cheering and even barking !! Conversion missed leaving the score 17:5.

From the re-start, Hawcoat caught and drove a lineout, but Penrith were awarded a penalty on their own 22 for “holding on” after Nick Dudson was jackaling the ball. With superb spatial awareness, the quick thinking Dudson immediately took a quick tap and accelerated through a gap in the defenders, and glided 75m to score under the posts. The easy conversion was kicked by Dudson taking the score to 24:5

The remainder of the first half continued with pressure from Hawcoat being applied until Dudson was set free again in open space. From a line out, Penrith secured possession, and the ball was worked from right to left with a neatly worked wrap around strike-play reminiscent of Jonny Sexton, which ended with Nick Dudson finding himself with an open field and 60m to run. A final step of the full back saw him score again. With the conversion missed the scoreline was 29:5 at half time.

Penrith started the second half with a strong catch and leg drive from Matty Austwick and after a series of short passes to the forwards, Hawcoat gave a penalty away. The resultant kick to touch was affected by the wind and the ball was kicked back to Penrith. Austwick took the ball into contact and the tackler failed to wrap and was shown a yellow reducing Park to 14 men for the next 10 minutes. The attack from the penalty petered out to nothing with Hawcoat stripping the ball from Penrith in contact allowing them to clear their lines.
However, it wasn’t long until the next Penrith score took place. From a line out drive on the opposition 22, Penrith set the ball up, the ball was recycled to Will Morgan who flicked the ball back inside to Joe Spencely to blast through several defenders to score under the posts. The simple conversion was kicked to make the score 36:5

The scoreboard continued to tick over when Dudson missed a kick to touch but after superb effort and pressure by Jack Mason, the ball was recovered from the kick and a slick offload set Dudson on his way again. The fly half was too fast for covering defenders scoring his third. The conversion was missed and the score board moved up to 41:5.

The next try was probably the pick of the bunch. From a scrum on their own line, Penrith backs moved the ball effortlessly to the wing and got outside the Hawcoat defence with tremendous pace. The final pass was an offload to the supporting Jack Mason who finished probably the best try of the day from 20m out. 46:5

The next try came from another line out when the ball was secured and the ball passed down the backline to Fraser Nicolson to sidestep his way through several defenders to score just outside the posts.

Final Score Penrith 2nd VX 53 Hawcoat Park 5.

Try Scorer’s: - Nick Dudson (3), Harley Johnson (2), Joe Spencely, Jack Tunnicliffe, Fraser Nicolson & Jack Mason
Conversions: Nick Dudson (4 no).

Team: Ryan Stansfield, Josh King, Will Morgan, Jack Huddart, Matt Austwick, Mo Geranshoab, Jack Tunnicliffe, Jonny Hodgson, Kyle Ryder, Nick Dudson, Max Dunford, Joe Spencely, Harley Johnson, Ed Smith, Fraser Nicolson, Danny Lund, Bryn Jeremiah, Morgan Bland, Jack Mason, Dean Lambert.

The Penrith 2ndXV are to be applauded for their resilience in defence, ruthless in attack and for their relentless attitude throughout the match. Despite the scoreline the coaches and players have plenty to work on with league leaders, Wigton 1st XV being next match at home on January 4th 2025.