Penrith hoped to give second in the table and unbeaten Anselmians a real run for their money in Regional 1 North West.
They certainly competed well and gave a decent account of themselves in a 29-14 defeat but in the final assessment gave a good, strong side too much of a start and left themselves far too much to do.
They started well enough and dominated the game early on after receiving the kick off on their own 22.
They worked their way up field aided by some aggressive running from their forwards and a quickly taken tap penalty by captain George Graham.
They were deep in the home 22 and were looking like scoring when a pass was a bit telegraphed and ended up being read and intercepted.
Had the pass found its intended target the visitors would have scored but as it was the ball was run the length of the field, the try scored under the posts and the home side seven points to the good.
The Cumbrians were well aware their hosts had scored the majority of their points through their forwards from close range and knew any penalties conceded to allow the ball to be kicked to the corner would likely result in a difficult to defend driven maul from the line-out.
This was exactly what happened with quarter of an hour on the clock. A soft penalty was given away and the home forwards worked their drill to perfection and the Cumbrians were 14 points down.
At this stage they certainly weren’t being overrun and were standing up physically to the home side.
They had their share of possession but just were not making any inroads in attack.
The writing looked to be on the wall when they conceded a breakaway third try after 33 minutes and it seemed the rest of the match would be just damage limitation.
They did finish the half strongly and spent a long period deep in the home 22. If they were going to make a game of it they had to score next and this could have been their chance.
Archie Rattray looked as if he might have got over from close range, picking and rolling off the side of a ruck but he was adjudged to have been held up.
The ball was dropped out from under the posts and Adam Howe won the ball in the air for Penrith to attack the home line once again.
But this time the ball was mishandled after several drives for the line so they ended the first period pointless and 19 points in arrears.
The second half could not have started any better for the visitors. They chased their kick off and the ball was taken cleanly but the next pass went to ground.
Sam Wilson snapped it up and made inroads before the Cumbrians went through the phases and a half break by Mike Fearon got them into the 22.
A thumping Howe drive took play virtually under the posts where Graham took his chance to dot the ball down among a sea of bodies and they were back in the game.
They moved within a score from a line-out on the home 22 after Wilson won the ball at the tail. Andy Rogers, on the peel, broke into the 22 where he slipped the ball to Rattray and the referee penalised the tip tackle on him.
Wilson was quick to react, taking the penalty and moving the ball right to James Thompson who spun it to Fearon.
It then went quickly wide via Isaac Murray and James Newman took his try well, hitting the ball at pace and going in at the corner. Rob Coward’s conversion off the touchline pulled the lead back to five points and all was to play for.
There was little to pick between the sides but the difference could have come down to the two yellow cards Penrith picked up.
They had been down to 14 men for 10 minutes in the first half and in the second it happened again.
Only this time the ensuing penalty was kickable and the hosts took the opportunity to extend their lead to two scores. Then before the 10 minutes was up they had added a fourth try to go two scored ahead.
Penrith finished the game strongly but couldn’t break down the home side who were happy to defend their lead.
The Cumbrians had won the second half but still had to come home with nothing to show for their efforts.
They now have a run of games that don’t look quite as difficult but as the league results show each Saturday there are no easy games at this level.  Â
