Penrith were not quite sure what to expect of visitors South Shields Westoe in Regional Two North.
They had registered an excellent home win against Northern the week before but two weeks ago had shipped 65 points at Aspatria.
It quickly became apparent they were in damage limitation mode as before even the first 10 minutes had expired they were slowing the game as much as they could, walking to the line-outs and scrums and making the most of any minor injuries.
Penrith actually scored on 10 minutes after an Andy Muir charge up the middle had made good ground before the ball was then spun quickly wide.
Jamie McNaughton, off the blind side wing, made the extra man and took the scoring pass off Matty Boustead to go over in the corner.
They were then frustrated for a while although Fraser Nicolson did push the score along with a penalty on the 22 head on to the posts.
Their second score finally came from deep in their own half when they won turn over ball on their 22.
George Graham found Mike Fearon and he hoisted the ball into space. McNaughton won the chase to the ball, hacked it on, then got a nice bounce when the ball popped up in his path and he raced in under the posts.
The home side then scored again almost immediately. They got Nicolson into space on the left where he was able to take the ball at pace and beat a couple of defenders before turning the ball back inside to debutant centre Joe Spencely and he ran in unopposed.
They then scored the bonus point try from the restart. Sam Wilson and Adam Howe put in the hard yards before the ball went to the backs where Boustead supplied the scoring pass to Nick Dudson.
Penrith added a fifth try just before the break. Again the forwards did the donkey work and created the space for Boustead and Dudson to work Nicolson into a try scoring position.
Westoe then probably had their best period of the game as they played out the remainder of the first half deep in the home 22, winning a succession of penalties and hammering on the home line.
The defence was good but got a little desperate as a yellow card reduced them to 14. They dug deep and a number of last-ditch tackles kept their line intact before an away knock-on ended the half.
Penrith turned round 34 points to the good and soon added to them when Fearon set up Spencely on the 22.
He broke the first line of defence and charged straight up the middle for his second try.
Fearon almost created the next try with a cross field kick to the corner but the defenders scrambled it into touch for a Penrith line-out five metres out.
Craig Price found Archie Rattray jumping at the front of the line and they set up the driven maul which ended with Howe coming up with the try his afternoon’s work richly deserved.
The Cumbrians’ final score came from a clearance kick fielded by McNaughton. He danced down the touchline to the 22 and then found Rattray with an inside pass and it was clear he was not going to be stopped as he scored under the posts.
The final minutes of the second period were similar to the first as the visitors were camped deep in the home 22, strung a lot of phases together, won a number of penalties and put the Penrith line under pressure. However, the home defence held firm and showed a determination not to concede.
