Penrith were expecting a close game at home to Northern and so it proved as they won 19-12.
Indeed, there was no score in the first 30 minutes as both teams seemed to be sizing each other up.
First one had the upper hand and then the other but it was the home side who were producing the more dangerous looking openings.
Jay Rossi came off the blind side wing to make the extra man in the three-quarter line and play went deep into the visitor’s 22 but the final touch to the move wasn’t there for the score.
Mike Fearon made a half break that saw Brad Taylor get away and he was hauled down virtually on the line before Adam Howe got himself over the line just to be held up.
Taylor, while trying to force his way over the line, sustained a knee injury which forced him to leave the field and looks like ligament damage which will keep him side-lined for a while.
Darren Lee replaced him off the bench and Fraser Nicolson moved to full back.
Lee was into the game shortly after and came into the line in midfield on the 22 and broke several tackles being brought down just short of the line.
Just after the half hour the home side finally broke the deadlock from loose play.
Archie Rattray tidied up the ball and made some headway on half way. The forwards ran it up a couple of times before Fearon set Nicolson away wide down the left.
He found the influential Arran Pamphilon on the 22 and he linked back inside to Fearon who skipped around the last defenders at pace for a classy try. Nicolson hit a tricky conversion in the wind.
The visitors’ response was almost immediate. They kicked a penalty to the 22 and set up the catch and drive from the line-out where Penrith were penalised for pulling down the maul.
The penalty went into the corner and this time the defenders couldn’t counter the drive and Northern scored an unconverted try wide out.
George Graham had caught the visitors cold a couple of times with quickly taken penalties and from another Andy Muir’s run was impeded before he had gone ten metres.
The referee moved the kick forward ten metres to the 22 and the Cumbrians, at the end of the half, elected to kick for goal. Nicolson again hit the ball sweetly but it came back off the post.
The chasers were under the posts as the ball came down and Nick Dudson had it touched down for a try but a knock-on was the verdict.
Penrith’s slender lead looked barely enough as the visitors now had the elements at their backs but the second half was much like the first initially with very little between the two sides.
Again it was the Cumbrians who looked the more dangerous. A flat Dudson pass on the gain line saw a good break by James Thompson which took play almost to the line but the final pass didn’t quite go to hand.
A good sniping run by Graham from half way to the 22 finally set up the second try. Craig Price got the ball away to Fearon and then Thompson made yards before releasing Ben Higgens some 18 metres out.
and he went for the corner before diving in, taking the full back over with him.
Penrith then looked to have sealed it with a very well taken third try.
The forwards set-up the drive from a line-out 30 metres out and when the ball came to the backs Dudson’s popped pass saw Pamphilon glide through the back row cover, cut inside the covering wing and slip the ball under the posts to Fearon to spot the ball down.
With five minutes to go that looked to be that but the visitors scored a second catch and drive try from a penalty kick to the corner and converted it to trail by seven points which set up a nail-biting finale.
The home side hung on for an excellent win against one of the sides that at this early stage look as if they’ll be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.
