Penrith have arranged a second warm-up game at Cockermouth on Friday night ahead of the new season which opens on September 4 at Stockport.
They got back into action at the weekend with a promising performance first time-up in a 19-10 defeat to Preston Grasshoppers.
Head coach David Preston said: “We have just been looking to get some rugby under our belts after an 18 month lay-off. The results will be immaterial as it’s just a case of having a look at all the lads and trying a few different combinations.”
There were two schools of thought within the game as a whole after coming back to rugby following COVID.
Would the players get broken off not playing regularly and find other things to do or would they miss the game when it wasn’t there, realise what they had missed and reconnect and commit themselves to regular training and playing again?
Fortunately in Penrith’s case it seems to be the latter as they appear to have held on to almost all of their existing players with one or two others coming back to the club and one or two new faces.
Preston said he was delighted to welcome Mike Fearon back into the Penrith fold. He left the club in 2017 but changes to his family circumstances have led to him looking to play closer to home in Workington and he will be looking to fill the stand off berth when the new season starts.
A new face in the squad is Ben Higgens who has recently moved to Appleby.
He is a 6ft 3in 23-year-old who looks more than useful and can play either second row or back row.
Not completely new to Penrith is Arran Pampilon, a local lad who played for the side in his student days.
He is now 28 and is moving back home and will be a welcome addition to the Penrith three quarter line as he is a silky smooth centre.
Another returnee is JJ Key who last played five years ago and has decided to take his rugby seriously again. He was a very good young player in senior rugby and now looks as if he will be even better.
Jamie McNaughton played the final 20 minutes of the last game in March 2019 after a shoulder operation and the 18-month break has given both his shoulder and his confidence ample time to recover and he looks desperate to make up for lost time.
Similarly, Chris Jackson shattered his ankle in 2019 and is now looking to play again with the lengthy lay-off period behind him. John Dent also wants to play again and the down time will have helped him recover from a shoulder operation and he will add some weight and presence to a Penrith eight.
The lockdown has also helped Matt Allinson whose list of injuries have melted away with time and he is more than keen to be involved again.
Another plus for the Penrith coach has been the regular appearance at training of Ryan Johnson and his commitment to be involved again on a regular basis after just making a guest appearance or two over recent seasons.
Captain last time out Ed Swale has also committed himself to being involved fully this season as has last season’s west coast centre partnership of Jay Rossi and Mason Lewthwaite.
