A glance at the scoreline – 63-0 -might suggest Penrith had an easy 80 minutes against visiting Stockton in Regional 2 North.
It suggests they had scored at will throughout the game but it was not quite how it panned out.
The game was scoreless after 20 minutes and there was very little to pick between the two sides in the first quarter as they both probed each other’s defences.
Penrith missed a penalty attempt after quarter of an hour and the visitors took advantage of about the only defensive lapse the home side made when they left a massive gap in midfield.
The Stockton attacking runner tore through and was eventually held up over the line under the posts.
The home side couldn’t be accused of a poor attitude as they were clearly up for it from the off.
What became abundantly clear, however, was the remaining three quarters were dominated by the home side who ran in 10 tries.
The home forwards were having the better of the scrums and shunted the Stockton pack off their own ball.
Number eight Sam Wilson picked and almost made the line. There were two further drives for the line before the ball went left and Mike Fearon found Jay Rossi and with the defence sucked in he scuttled round the last defender for the opening try.
Graham was instrumental in the second try when the visitors spilt possession on half way. He pounced on the loose ball and sped past the first line of tacklers and headed for the corner.
The covering full back looked as if he might get to him so he fed the ball back inside to young Aaron Cavaghan who had done well to get up in support and he crossed the line unopposed.
Another Graham clean break led to the third try and this time it was Fearon who was in support to receive the scoring pass, by stepping inside the last defender to make the line.
Just before the break Stockton attempted to break their duck with a shot at goal but it went wide. The resulting 22 drop out was half charged down and it fell nicely for the Cumbrians.
The ball would go through half the team’s hands leading to the bonus point try. Rossi and Jamie McNaughton made progress up the right, before the ball came left where Fraser Nicolson picked a pass up off his toes to keep the movement going.
Then Wilson and Andy Muir put Ben Higgens away wide on the left and he made no mistake going in at the corner.
Penrith led 24-0 at the break and introduced all three replacements in Ryan Johnson, Craig Price and Matty Boustead who all proved to be influential in the second period.
Nicolson added a penalty before Boustead made a break, then chipped the ball to the corner where it was fielded after the first bounce by Nick Dudson who made the line.
The sixth try came after a forward drive sucked in the cover and quick hands saw Nicolson score in the corner.
Graham set up the next score with a quickly taken penalty as Boustead then set up McNaughton.
Another forward drive pulled in the cover to afford the backs plenty of space and again Boustead was involved as Dudson claimed his second try and Boustead was instrumental along with Archie Rattray as Fearon also claimed a second.
Johnson did the spadework to set-up Rossi for the final try as he made a great solo run from his own half.
