Penrith safely navigated their way into the county cup semi final against Keswick at Davidson park last weekend.
The 60-19 scoreline might suggest a routine win but that was far from the case as the hosts spent long periods in possession especially early in the game.
They posed a real, physical threat and kept themselves in the game well into the second half.
Penrith’s attacking flair, though, with accuracy and ability in possession was always going to see them through.
A clean George Graham break brought them their first score. He took play from half-way to the 22 and was able to play the ball out of contact to Isaac Murray who quickly transferred it to Mike Fearon to score on his first appearance of the season.
The second came soon after, Ashton Hook took a quick tap penalty to put the home side on the back foot. The ball went loose when moved right but then bobbled up invitingly for Rob Coward who was able to weave his way to the line.
The home side struck back when Penrith knocked the restart on under their own posts. They won the scrum and the scrum half Danny Price forced his way over from close range with Kieran Mewse adding the conversion.
The visitors soon extended their lead when Archie Rattray scored after a Jamie McNaughton break put them in an attacking position.
Keswick then struck back again after the visitors had chances to clear their line but were playing too much rugby deep in their half. They were caught out and Ned Barnes crossed for the try which brought the Penrith lead down to one score.
The visitors hit straight back winning the ball from the restart. Sam Wilson, who ran the ball up hard all afternoon, made inroads and Josh Dowson was on hand to finish off Wilson’s spadework.
As the first half drew to a close Penrith were camped in the home 22 and were patiently going through the phases, it was Murray who rode a tackle and then played in McNaughton for the final score of the half. That final score gave them a little breathing space as they pulled out the lead to 31-12.
The first 10 minutes of the second period was a bit of a stalemate but a sweeping move saw Penrith add to their total, The ball was played out left to Tom Connell on the wing and then rapidly right to Hook on the opposite wing who squeezed in at the corner.
Keswick came back again and Grant reid scored from a quickly taken penalty close to the line with Mewse adding the extras.
But from there on in it was all Penrith. Murray was next to score with a penalty in front of the posts and a McNaughton run from one 22 to the other led to a penalty and an attacking line-out.
Straight off the training ground Craig Price’s throw was taken by Ant Davies at the tail and Andy Rogers came round on the peel.
He didn’t quite make the line but Rattray was on his shoulder and he did for his second try.
Dowson ran a great line at pace off Murray to add his second and their final score was probably their best.
From a five metre scrum the ball came to Graham now playing fly half.
He looped Murray then floated out a long ball to Connell out wide on the wing who ran around the defence for a neat score.
