Penrith really wanted something out of their game at Middlesbrough to enable them to clinch the league title this weekend at home against Consett.
The fact that they swept to a 64-13 victory underlined their determination to set-up a memorable day at Winters Park rather than have to make a nailing biting trip to Durham City the week after with the title in the balance.
A feature of the side’s season has been the small number of injuries and unavailabilities but for the Middlesbrough trip coach David Preston had some head scratching to do with a minor crisis as it was originally a free weekend and this fixture rearranged.
However when he could call on players of the ability of Ross Jackson, Aaron Cavaghan and Sam Dudson his problems filling the gaps were indeed minor.
Middlesbrough are the only side to have won at Winters Park this season when they played exceptionally well and Penrith knew they could not afford a slow start.
They started at a 100 miles an hour so the pace was frenetic and they were trying just a little bit too hard. Attempting to score from every piece of possession and forcing the play was leading to mistakes which allowed the hosts to prosper.
It was the Cumbrians who scored first, though, after they almost scored from the first play of the game when a loose ball was hacked down field and they just failed to get the touchdown.
From the goal line drop out good strong running by Sam Wilson and Scott Lancaster got close to the line and Adam Howe crashed over. Mike Fearon missed the conversion into a stiff breeze but went on to hit seven out of ten in very unhelpful conditions.
A Penrith infringement at the scrum allowed the home side to kick a penalty to trail by two points but the visitors went straight back and scored from the restart.
Mason Lewthwaite stripped the home centre of possession as they tried to run the ball out of their own half. Lancaster secured the possession and he and Lee Chapman took it on. When the space appeared Lewthwaite powered through the defensive line and fed the ball inside to George Graham who went in under the posts.
The visitors them conceded two penalties in quick succession allowing their hosts to kick another three points and then yet another penalty allowed them to kick to the corner. They worked the line-out catch and drive nicely and found themselves leading 13-12 on 20 minutes.
It had not gone to plan but Penrith calmed themselves down and started to play a bit more controlled rugby.
A third try came from a penalty kicked to the corner where Chris Jackson took the lineout throw. They set-up the driven maul from eight metres out and as it closed in on the line it wheeled and Lancaster broke off to force his way over to claim the try.
The fourth try came after Graham cleared up scrappy line-out ball. Ross Jackson made the break from mid-field and found Graham who put Jamie McNaughton in under the posts.
The Cumbrians added a fifth when McNaughton broke free on halfway and released Rob Coward who beat two men for pace to score.
Penrith led 33-13 at the break and it looked like being a long 40 minutes for the home side playing into the wind.
Coward grabbed a second thanks to an accurate cross field kick from Fearon which found him in acres of space on the right wing and he had plenty of time to control the ball and claim the try.
The next try came as the home side pressured the visitors on their own 22. McNaughton was quickly on to some sluggish, telegraphed passing, to take the interception and he ran three quarters the length of the field to score under the posts.
The home side’s effort never faded but Penrith were in control. Graham scored his second when they opted for a scrum in the 22 following a penalty and a 50/20 punt by Fearon with the wind at his back put them in a great position in the home 22.
This time it was Andy Muir who came up with the score and the final try came when they ran a penalty and good hands saw Dudson go over in the corner.
All eyes in the changing room were on phones looking for the Morpeth score. They had just beaten Durham and scored four tries so the Winters Park men now need two points against Consett on Saturday to be mathematically sure of the title and promotion.
