Penrith were hot favourites to win the Cumbrian derby with Carlisle in Regional Two North.
Carlisle arrived at Winters Park without a win and only a losing bonus point to their name but you would never have guessed it from their approach to the game.
They ripped into the home side right from the off, imposed themselves physically throughout and never let their effort slip even late in the game when the game had slipped away from them as they eventually lost 49-15.
Carlisle’s approach paid dividends as Penrith failed to secure the kick off and then conceded a penalty head on to the posts on the 22 which was converted Vince Lung for the lead within two minutes.
However Carlisle were still congratulating themselves at the restart, as they failed to deal with the return ball. They allowed it to bounce and Jamie McNaughton, on the chase, was able to take it just into the 22 and drag two defenders over the line with him.
The home side after being rather caught on their heels by the city side’s robust approach were able to apply a bit of pressure themselves.
Carlisle were penalised on their own line and the ball was put onto touch for an attacking line-out.
Penrith won their own throw and couldn’t drive the ensuing maul over the line, but from the breakdown George Graham found Scott Lancaster on the blindside touchline and he forced his way over in the corner.
Carlisle enjoyed a lot of possession for the next 10 minutes and Penrith were guilty of committing a number of penalties at the breakdown, as Carlisle drove up the park.
Eventually a five metre line-out was caught and driven over with hooker Tom Graham at the bottom of the pile. Lung converted to cut Penrith’s lead to two points.
But Penrith got going again and extended their lead by three points when a Joe Spencely charge in midfield led to a penalty at the breakdown which Fraser Nicolson struck nicely.
They scored again following a booming clearance kick from McNaughton which went from one 22 to the other.
The defence did not deal with the ball cleanly and when the ball ran loose it was snapped-up by Graham and he used his strength to make ground and was just able to stretch for the line.
The visitors finished the half strongly and pushing forward, a two on one should have produced a second try but the final pass just didn’t go to hand.
Penrith defended well and were relieved to reach the break with a 20-10 advantage.
Immediately after half time Penrith turned on the pressure and were on the Carlisle line when a knock on prevented a likely score.
The pack then drove the visitor’s eight off their own scrum and the ball was spun wide to the right where Matty Boustead and Nick Dudson combined to put McNaughton in at the corner.
Penrith continued to press and almost scored again but the ball was held up over the line. Lancaster fielded the try-line drop out and fed the ball to McNaughton.
From 30 metres out he got his head up and picked his way through the cover on the visitors’ right to score a great individual try in the corner.
Penrith’s next try came from another drop out when they had again been held up over the line.
This time Nicolson took the ball and the forwards drove it on before it came right and Boustead picked his way through the defensive line.
Things turned ugly though as a spate of handbags resulted in Matty Little, with blood pouring from a cut eye, being shown a red card, though others might think themselves lucky they were not penalised similarly.
It was certainly difficult to see how just one individual could have been picked out by the referee given the brawl that erupted.
Carlisle might have been bloodied but they were not bowed, and they pressed forward from the off. With Penrith losing a man to the bin for a high tackle, Carlisle used the advantage as they camped on the Penrith line.
A long pass wide from scrum half Ed Polley, found Tom Graham on the wing, his favourite position, to crash through three defenders for Carlisle’s second try.
The result was never in doubt at this point and the home side added two further tries.
Graham fielded a clearance kick on the left touchline and ran it back, exchanged passes with McNaughton and forced his way over in the corner.
The final try fell to centre Arran Pamphilon who doesn’t score many tries himself. He’s normally happy to hold the three quarters together in attack and defence so his interception try was well deserved.
