Penrith’s dismal away record continued last Saturday as they lost 41-38 to already relegated Birkenhead Park who prior to this had only won two of 20 games.
Penrith’s previous game had been away to next-to-bottom Stoke who had only managed three wins before they beat the Cumbrians by two points in another high scoring game.
Penrith’s only away victory this season was way back in September when they won first time out at Stockport, in their defence they have managed two away draws and since the turn of the year have been adept at picking up bonus points on their travels.
This away day couldn’t have started much worse as they conceded a soft try in the first minute after missing a simple one on one tackle in midfield and trailed by seven points before the game had hardly begun.
They then seemed to get the bus trip out of their system and stage a comeback, much to the fury of the home support they were helped by the referee who dished out three yellow cards and at one stage the home side were down to 12 men.
A trip, an offside and a failure to retreat 10m at a penalty were all fair yellows and enough for the game to swing to the away side.
George Graham set up the first try from a 5m scrum, he ran left and floated the ball high over the advancing defence to Fraser Nicolson on the wing who had a clear run in.
Graham was involved in the second try, Mark Mason gathered a high clearance kick which was run back, Adam Howe made the initial break, Graham made a half break and got the ball away to Matty Boustead who sped in.
Sam Wilson scored a push over try from a 5m scrum against a depleted home pack and Penrith led 17-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The home side were restored to full strength as the three yellows ran out of time and there was little to chose between the sides, the home side pressed as the half drew to a close and scored with the last play of the half so at the break they were only three points in it and the game was in the balance.
The start of the second half was a disaster for the visitors as they went down to 14 men, poor Morgan Bland came on at half time to made a well deserved debut for the senior side.
He flew into contact as a home forward took the restart kick, there appeared to be an accidental clash of heads and the referee saw it as a red card offence and the extremely unlucky Bland’s debut had lasted a matter of seconds.
Although down to 14 what followed was little to do with that and just abject defending as in the next 20 minutes they conceded four tries and a penalty to trail 41-17, their final try was an interception and Penrith’s humiliation looked complete as they stood behind the posts subject to some extreme barracking from the over refreshed home club’s sponsors.
To their credit the visitors did almost come back from the dead as they roused themselves in the final quarter, by now they were not only down a man but had also lost lynchpin stand off Mike Fearon and had to rejig their three quarters.
Archie Rattray led the fightback when he broke from No8 on half way, he bypassed the home back row, burst between the two centres and brushed off the full back for an excellent individual try. He scored the next try as well, a soft one following poor marking at a 5m lineout.
Penrith now had their tails up, the restart went straight into touch and they had a scrum on half way, Rattray again broke from No8, fed Graham who burst through the home back line, drew the full back and set Rob Coward away who sped in.
All three tries were converted by drop kicked conversions under the post to speed up the game but in the time that remained they couldn’t find the winning score. The home side were then mightily relieved when the final whistle went and they had recorded their third victory.
Penrith had again got themselves two bonus points but that was little consolation in a game they had numerous opportunities to put to bed.
