Penrith knew they faced a stiff assignment at Northern in Regional 2 North – and so it proved.
They had only beaten them narrowly at home and along with league leaders Morpeth they had been the only side to deny the Cumbrians a four try bonus point.
The return was equally tight with Northern eventually winning 15-10.
Penrith’s commitment and effort could not be questioned as they gave it their all, but they were not quite on their game.
They were just a little bit rusty, just a little bit out of sorts with themselves, things weren’t quite coming off, they looked like a side coming back from a fortnight off for Christmas and not trained!
They were also playing on a grass pitch in January and although the surface was in great nick for the time of year and the amount of rain there’s been, it was not Winters Park.
Half breaks would have been clean breaks at home and their backs didn’t look the unstoppable force they have looked like so far this season.
The home side came out of the blocks the quicker and they had a chance to take the lead as early as the second minute but a penalty attempt was screwed well wide.
They continued to have the better of things but the visitors held them at bay and then when they finally strung some phases of play together made good ground and won a penalty in the home 22.
It was kicked to the corner and hooker Craig Price found Sam Wilson at the tail with an accurate throw.
They attempted the driving maul but were well held by the home forwards. They then wheeled the maul, reset it before making a bit of progress and got to within five yards of the line when Mason Lewthwaite peeled off the side and one-handed placed the ball on the line.
Fraser Nicolson struck the conversion nicely and the visitors had a seven point lead.
There was little to choose between the two well-matched sides and now it was the home sides turn to be on the front foot.
They levelled the scores after a penalty was kicked to the corner.
Their line-out was secure all afternoon and although their initial drive for the line was thwarted they continued to pick and drive from just a couple of yards out and met stout resistance until the ball came to the stand-off who saw the gap and picked his spot besides the posts.
Penrith then had the better of the last 15 minutes of the first half.
They had two good try-scoring opportunities that didn’t quite come to fruition but finally took the lead when the home pack were penalised at their put in to the scrum just outside their 22. Nicolson again struck the ball sweetly and the visitors led 10-7 at the break.
They started the second period well enough and George Graham caught the home defence on the back foot with a quickly taken penalty.
Lewthwaite continued the run into the home 22 but was hauled down and although the visitors retained possession they couldn’t grind down the excellent home defence.
Northern then took the game to the visitors and strung a good number of phases and possession together to get their winger over in the corner.
The conversion drifted wide so they had a two point advantage but then extended it to five points with ten minutes to go when the visitors were penalised for a high tackle.
From the restart Penrith had a penalty opportunity when the home side were pinged for crossing but the kick just drifted wide.
The Cumbrians finished the game strongly in the home 22 but could not break down the stubborn home defensive line.
They had the put-in to the scrum under the home posts for the final play but couldn’t steal the game at the death.
As the players left the field news filtered through that league leaders Morpeth had also narrowly lost and the Penrith contingent didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Whether to rejoice that they were still only two points adrift or to bemoan the fact that if they’d played to their potential they would now be topping the table.
