Penrith were expecting a tough game against in-form Percy Park and certainly got one even if it looked as if they were going to run away with it early on.
They continued their push for the title with a 43-35 victory ahead of this Saturday’s crucial home clash with main rivals Morpeth.
Percy Park had come back with no little pace and power and it was one of the most entertaining games seen at Winters Park for some time, especially for the neutral.
The Cumbrians held on with some heroic defending against a rampant Park side and ended up with the bonus point win they were looking for.
They couldn’t have got off to a better start, in the third minute when George Graham was away after taking a quick tap penalty. Mike Fearon, Jay Rossi and Mason Lewthwaite shifted the ball to Jamie McNaughton and he set James Thompson away wide on the right.
The speed of the movement left the cover trailing and he had a clear run in and even support on the outside from young winger Rob Coward as insurance.
Archie Rattray took the restart and ran the ball up. It then came to Mason Lewthwaite who blasted through two tacklers and made ground before being brought down. He got the ball away to Adam Howe who again had James Thompson free on his outside and he galloped in for his second try.
Before the third try came another Lewthwaite break set up Graham but he was run down in the 22 and Rattray also got clean away only to be caught.
The visitors then enjoyed some possession and looked to move the ball and Lewthwaite pounced again. He stripped the ball carrier and set off out of his own half for the line and made it but not without tweaking a hamstring.
The visitors looked dangerous at close quarters and were having marginally the better of the set scrums at this stage. Penrith were penalised and the penalty was kicked to the corner and the big Park forwards worked the line-out and drove to score from close in.
Graham again put the home side on the front foot when he broke through the visitors line out. The ball was then whipped quickly left for Joe Spencely to make the half break and play the ball cleverly out of contact to Coward who was on his shoulder and made good ground and took a defender over the line with him to score.
Spencely then got on the scoresheet himself as the Winters Park men turned the screw in the visitors’ 22 and were given a penalty. He had it taken in a flash and was not going to be stopped from 20 metres.
On half time the home side were penalised in their own half and the penalty was kicked to the corner. Again their forwards were not to be denied at close quarters and forced a second converted try to trail 33-14 at the break.
Penrith had a quick start to the second half in the third minute. From a scrum tight to the left touchline Graham went blind and made ground with Lewthwaite in close support. He chose to dink the ball forward and as Lewthwaite headed the chase it sat up nicely for him and he crashed over and his side led 40-14.
From here on the game changed completely. The visitors, with nothing to lose, threw caution to the wind and looked a much better side for it and for 35 minutes the home side barely touched the ball.
For the next 15 minutes the visitors were camped deep in the home 22 and pounded the line with a number of attacking line-outs and Penrith had to defend stoutly.
Too stoutly in fact as first Chris Jackson and then Rossi were yellow carded. Down to 13 men the pressure eventually told and a try was conceded from a quickly taken tap penalty.
Percy Park, to this point, had only looked a threat from close range but with the home side still a back short they scored an excellent expansive try from a scrum on their own 22 and with 20 minutes to go the lead was down to 40-28.
As the clock ticked down to the end of proper time the visitors kicked another penalty to the corner and again they strong-armed their way over to cut the lead to five points with added time to play.
At long last the home side got their hands on the ball and they got themselves up the field and were awarded a penalty on the 22 halfway to the touchline on the right.
They opted for the penalty to put themselves two scores ahead and Fraser Nicolson, who had hit five conversions out of six, held his nerve and the kick sailed between the posts.
With a couple of minutes left the home side held out for a hard earned victory but Percy Park had more than played their part. They probably deserved a losing bonus point to go with their four try point for their contribution to an excellent game.
