Keswick Falcons made their competitive debut against Penrith Panthers and made it a winning start with a 17-10 victory over their neighbours.
Rain through the morning had resulted in standing water on the Davidson Park pitch, so the game was switched to Penrith’s Winters Park 4G pitch.
The Penrith stand was at full capacity with what seemed to be mostly Keswick supporters despite the cold conditions and occasional rain.
With their recently acquired shirts sponsored by Sally’s Cottages and their shorts by the Glaramara Hotel, the Falcons had been looking forward to their first game for some time and they rose to the occasion.
The foul weather made for difficult handling but Penrith’s counter-rucking was strong and Keswick found retaining possession challenging after tackles.
However, the line-out was better for Keswick and from a free kick for dummying at the line-out, Keswick tapped and ran the ball. Aimee Hogarth was tackled just short but Lilly Hodgson, who was backing up, was able to cross the line for a try – which will obviously go down in history – and was converted by Lucy King after six minutes.
Putting theory and practice into full match mode meant some early errors, such as not retreating ten metres at a penalty and playing the ball in an offside position. These disappeared as the game progressed and was made up for by some excellent tackling and strong defensive play.
From such a penalty Penrith tapped and ran from within the Keswick 22, but when it seemed likely they would score, a crossing offence gave penalty possession back to Keswick.
On 14 minutes Penrith ran the ball right from just inside the Keswick half and Josie Scrimgeour was fast enough to outpace the defence to score under the posts. It was converted by Caitlin Wood.
The score reflected the play, with both sides trying to run with the ball and finding the opposition defence equal to the challenge most of the time.
However, with 30 minutes gone, a good line-out take by Leanne Grave was passed out to Hodgson in the centre who ran through to score under the posts but the conversion was missed.
Occasional set-piece superiority
A couple of front row changes for Penrith saw them gain occasional superiority in the set-piece, but from a retreating scrum, Keswick got the ball to Cheska Horsburgh who made an excellent run before being brought down well into the opposition 22.
However, despite having the throw into the line-out five metres out, Keswick were unable to turn the pressure into points. The final attack of the half was by Penrith and after a thrilling first 40 minutes, the whistle went with Keswick having a 12-7 lead.
Penrith started the second half well, their passing crisper and more accurate than Keswick’s and they became more of a threat at the breakdown and when running with the ball in hand.
Some slick handling by their backs resulted in the second try by Helena Scullion on the right, after 45 minutes and with the conversion attempt missing the sides were tied at 12-12.
Keswick then found a better rhythm and put together some good attacking phases, to the appreciation of the travelling supporters.
From a penalty inside the Penrith 22, Keswick decided to run the ball rather than kick to touch. King tapped and passed to Grave who was able to brush off some strong tackling to score on 53 minutes.
For the remainder of the game, it was defences that dominated, though both sides put in some excellent runs and with only one score the difference the result could have gone either way.
Keswick forced Penrith back across their try line where they touched down for a try line drop out and for the last few minutes play was concentrated in the Penrith 22 where despite good attacking play, the home defence proved up to the task.
Bernie Willets was Penrith’s top forward while Bethany Fearns was named their back of the match.
On Sunday the Falcons have an away game at Blaydon against their Red Kites side who lost 36-25 at Penrith a month ago.
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