Penrith hosted run away league leaders Rossendale on Saturday, their impressive squad, assembled at no little cost, had won every one of their 13 games to press and only failed to claim a four try bonus point on one occasion.
The home side faced a daunting task. The Cumbrians looked to have shot themselves in the foot from the first play of the game, they conceded a penalty and had to defend a lineout on their own line.
It looked a shoe in for the opening try but their defence was sound and an attacking knock on allowed them to clear their lines.
They weren’t able to keep their line intact for much longer though, good clean lineout ball came to the Rossendale backs and their ex England international centre made the most of a lapse in defence for a converted try.
The home side then had rather the better of things, spent some time in the visitor’s 22, they did get over the line but Luke Coulston was held up after Archie Rattray had almost got over the line himself breaking from a 5 metre scrum.
The visiting backs then had a five minute purple patch scoring three tries, their three quarters were big and quick with bags of ability, the young outside Penrith backs would be giving them a couple of stones a man and struggled to contain them.
The first try was an interception from their own half and the other two were clean breaks from distance, the game looked to be slipping away very quickly.
If Rossendale thought they’d done enough at this stage they were badly mistaken, the home side came roaring back and dominated the rest of the first half getting right back into the game.
They were camped in the 22 and were attacking on the line after a George Graham quickly taken tap penalty, there was then an obvious knock on from an attempted interception by a defender and play stopped. Scott Lancaster was sharp enough to snap the ball up and feed Graham and he had a simple walk in try.
Mike Fearon had had an influential game last time out and was again worrying the visitors’ defence, he made a nice break, found Isaac Murray who set up Joe Kirkup and he rarely gets stopped from five yards out.
They scored a third try just before the break, Coulston ran the ball up hard, the ball popped up and Graham was on it and shot through a gap, he was caught but managed to play the ball out of contact to Fearon in support who sped in.
With Rob Coward converting all three tries Penrith only trailed 21-16 at the break, they then started the second half as they had finished the first, all over their opponents.
Kirkup made a clean break from half way and was involved a second time to take play deep into the visitor’s 22, there they stayed until they scored a fourth try.
After numerous phases and drives for the line Adam Howe broke the defence, he had barrelled in so many times up to this point they expected the same again and in the left hand corner he played the ball round the back of the tackler for Coulston to dive in at the corner.
Coward converted off the touchline and Penrith led by two points with just over half an hour to go.
The Cumbrians continued to dominate and were getting much the better of Rossendale at close quarters but the visitors did look dangerous if they could manage to get their backs in possession in space.
The visitors had a long penalty shot that went wide and Penrith had to take a 22 drop out, this gave them the ball on half way and they managed to get a man over and scored in the corner, the conversion came back off the post but they led 28-31.
Penrith were still pressing, they went close with two attacking lineouts, Fraser Nicolson looked to have a chance on the left wing but there was a forward pass.
Although not in a winning position Penrith were looking good for two bonus points but that looked lost when Rossendale scored a sixth try when opening play out deep in their own half from a lineout, they led 28-38 going into the last few minutes.
The home side stretched every sinew but then looked out of it conceding a penalty and having to defend a lineout on half way, the visitors won the ball, ran it into midfield, switched play back and Harvey Johnston saw his chance as the pass was floated out, took the interception and showed a clean pair of heels to claim the try.
That was the two bonus points back on the table and then the game was restarted, it would be the last play as the clock went into the red and Penrith kept the ball alive running it back out of their 22.
They ran phase after phase at the end of what was a fast, very physically demanding game. On the 14th phase Howe crashed into the visitors’ half, on the 15th Murray fed the ball wide to Johnston, he stepped inside his man and found a willing runner in Rattray.
He set Coulston away who took out the last defender and fed the ball out of the back of his hand to Murray on his outside shoulder and he had a clear run to the line.
Pandemonium broke out as the home side celebrated and in the confusion the scoreboard was incorrect giving Penrith an extra point when the scores were actually tied at 38-38.
The conversion slid wide but in coming back from the dead it felt much more like a win than a draw with an outstanding performance to boot.
On paper Penrith should have got no where near their visitors but sheer grit and doggedness saw them hold the league’s top side and come within a whisker of beating them.
You can buy many things but as one long time Penrith clubman put it “you cannot buy heart.”
