Penrith completed their league programme on Saturday with a difficult away trip to table-topping Macclesfield who needed a win to secure the championship.
Aiming for promotion in front of Rossendale, who trailed them by only three points, the hosts were going to do Penrith no favours and ran out 57-15 winners to clinch the title.
Penrith, however, managed to be in contention until the final quarter when a yellow card and the loss of two of their three quarters to injury hampered their efforts.
The home side played extremely well, producing good rugby at pace and it wasn’t difficult to see why they ended up top of the pile.
The afternoon was very windy and made for difficult conditions but the Cumbrians made a decent start retaining possession of the ball well in the forwards and taking the game to the hosts who looked a little nervous in the early stages.
Their line-outs were shaky and the visitors were well in the game. A quickly taken penalty by George Graham got them deep into deep into the home 22 and they couldn’t quite force the score before the home side ended up with a drop kick from their own line.
James Bent gathered and ran the kick back and Penrith had good possession from the resulting breakdown on the 22. The ball came back to Isaac Murray, at stand-off, who stepped back inside the rush defence, caught the next line of defence napping and had the pace to get to the line to give his side the lead with a swallow dive finish.
Macclesfield had seen little of the ball but after quarter of an hour got their first bit of meaningful possession and went through their paces to score a well-worked try and the conversion edged them into the lead.
They scored a second nicely created try by playing the ball out of contact three times in succession to breach the visitors’ defence.
The visitors got back within a couple of points after Rob Coward broke out of his own 22 then chased his chip ahead and the ball ran into touch just short of the home line.
The Macclesfield forwards then failed to win their own line-out and the Penrith forwards mounted an assault on the line. There were strong drives from Ben Higgens and Adam Howe before Andy Rogers blasted his way over.
The visitors then had a chance to take the lead when they kicked a penalty to the corner and won the five metre line-out.
The possession was not perfect but Scott Lancaster tidied it up and a third try looked on before the ball was spilt in contact.
The home side then extended their lead following a multi-phase period of play where they stretched, then broke, the visitors’ defence. They nearly added another try after a line-out deep in the Penrith 22 but the throw was crooked.
The Cumbrians then had a scrum on their own line and although their set scrum was reasonably steady they weren’t getting it all their own way. Archie Rattray at number eight didn’t let that bother him and broke from the scrum before leaving the home tacklers in his wake as he made it to the half-way line.
Macclesfield were penalised and Graham again was away with a tapped penalty. Dylan Thompson continued the run and the home side were penalised again.
The ball was kicked to the corner and the visitors had another chance to get within striking distance of their hosts at the lineout but the chance went begging.
Penrith trailed 19-10 at the break and had given as good as they had got but the second half was to prove a little more troublesome.
The hosts claimed the bonus point try with a pushover from a five metre set scrum but Penrith weren’t done yet. Murray found a good touch from a penalty in the swirling wind and as the forwards lumbered over for the line-out quickness of thought, first by Ross Jackson who took the throw quickly, and then Rattray who received the ball at pace just in his own half and took off for the line.
He had the home winger in pursuit but he couldn’t catch him before he dived over for a third try.
The Cumbrians were still in the game at this point and trailed 26-15 but from here their problems started to mount and the hosts moved up a gear or two.
They lost Matty Boustead to a hamstring pull and then Harley Johnson to a blow to the head. In the required re-shuffle Rattray was moved into the centres and he then had to also leave the field with a knee injury so the final period of the match was an uphill struggle as they conceded another five tries.
There was no lack of effort and no heads went down, they were simply short of firepower and personnel but they gave it their all.
The objective at the start of the season had been to secure Level 5 rugby for next season and this they had done with two games to go and 12 points to spare. There was no disgrace in this performance, as there were always going to be some stern tasks along the way.
