The final 40-17 scoreline might suggest Penrith got a bit of a pasting at Firwood Waterloo.
That was not how the game panned out, however, as for long periods there was little between the sides.
Early in the second half Penrith looked as if they might pull off an unlikely away win but the strength, experience and nous of the home side told in the end.
Penrith got the best of starts after six minutes when Jamie McNaughton hoisted a hopeful punt out of his own half and the home back three failed to deal with it, allowing the ball to bounce.
Brad Taylor was up quickly and managed to gather and flick it up to Arran Pamphilon. He took it at pace and made big inroads into the home 22.
He was eventually brought down but the support was there quickly and the ruck was won. When the ball came to Taylor he cut a line and went in by the posts without a hand being laid on him. Mike Fearon converted.
They continued to press and strong running by Andy Muir and a scything break by McNaughton got them back on the home line but they couldn’t quite get over.
They did score next though from a scrum 40 metres out. Muir broke down the short side from number eight and drew the man to put young scrum half, Tom Kirk away, on his debut.
He, in turn, found Dylan Cowperthwaite on the right wing who looked certain to be bundled into touch.
Somehow he managed to twist out of contact and make it into the 22 where Josh Winder was hot on his heels.
When he was eventually tackled the ball ended up in Fearon’s hands. He had the vision to see Fraser Nicolson in acres of space wide on the left wing and chipped the ball across the pitch in front of him.
Nicolson had the relatively easy task of gathering the ball and going in at the corner.
The home side then got back into the game after a Penrith infringement allowed them to kick a penalty to the corner.
They played to their strength, won the lineout, set up the catch and drive and slowly but surely edged their way over for a converted try.
McNaughton then sent an inch perfect line kick from a penalty into the corner for the Cumbrians to try the catch and drive from five metres themselves.
Chris Jackson won the ball at the tail of the line-out but they weren’t quite strong enough to force their way over and were held up.
Archie Rattray then kept his sides noses in front when Waterloo had a kick and chase out of their own 22. The ball sat up nicely for the chaser, and he looked to be outpacing the cover with ball in hand, when the 17-year-old flanker seemingly appeared out of nowhere to run him down. On the stroke of half time the home side did level the scores, after a period of pressure in the visitors’ 22. A quickly taken penalty close to the line caught out the defenders and the home side scored a second try.
With the scores tied at 12-12 Penrith had everything to play for in the second half and started well enough.
Taylor ran a clearance kick back and linked with Nicolson who found McNaughton. He chipped ahead and Nicolson narrowly lost out on the chase to the line.
They then had a five metre scrum and although smaller the Penrith pack had the better of the set scrums. They looked as if they were going to shunt their bigger opponents over the line for a push over try but a knock on denied them the score.
The game at this point looked as if it could go either way but in two minutes at the end of the third quarter the game was won and lost, the home side scored two tries, both from their own half, and the game was as good as over at 26-12.
As the game went into the last 10 minutes Waterloo’s pack took charge and rumbled over for another two tries but Penrith did have the last word when Jackson barged his way over from a tap penalty deep in the home 22.
