Penrith seconds were drawn away against Wigton’s second string in the semi-final of the County Shield competition.
They played the fixture on Friday evening and if they thought they were going to have an easy ride because they ran their first team so close in the Cumbria League they were to be disappointed.
The Wigton side was a mixture of youth and experience and proved a hard nut to crack.
In fact it was the home side who got their noses in front taking a three-point lead following a penalty head on to the posts, Penrith came back with an unconverted try following a penalty kicked into the home 22.
Good lineout ball was won at the tail and there was a drive to the line, the visitor’s forwards were stopped just short and Tom Kirk at scrum half sniped down the right hand side of the ruck to score.
Penrith lost the ball at the restart and came under pressure as the home side pushed for the try. They managed to keep their line intact but in doing so conceded a penalty which the hosts kicked to move back within a point.
The game was a good physical contest, strong tackling from the home side meant they gained good possession as Penrith kept losing the ball in contact and visitors’ trump card was their lineout where Jack Huddart dominated with the help of some accurate throwing in by hooker Josh King.
Penrith extended their lead from a 5m scrum. Richy Dadley, who had a great all-round game, broke from No8 and shrugged off a couple of tackles to score.
The home side then ran a penalty which caught the visitors on the back foot and they conceded another penalty under the posts which was goaled for the home side to trail by one point at 9-10.
Penrith looked to be easing ahead when they scored a nice length of the field just before half time, the home side were on the attack and chipped towards the 22, Max Dunford got back to tidy the ball up and set up Fraser Nicolson who saw his chance and broke out to half way.
Quick ball came to Kirk who managed to put Olly Bibby through the narrowest of gaps on the touchline at half way and he did the the rest from there.
Penrith led 17-9 at the break but this Wigton side weren’t finished, they kicked a penalty into the 22 in the opening minutes of the second half and scored from the forward drive from the lineout and the conversion meant they were only one point adrift.
The second half developed into a bit of a stalemate but the visitors did get a fourth try to seal their win.
From a 5m scrum, instead of the expected attack from the forwards the ball was shifted through the hands quickly right and they got Dunford on the overlap on the wide outside and he wasn’t going to be caught.
Penrith were worthy winners but had a much harder struggle than they might have expected with some old hands keeping them honest and some youthful pace.
The final score was Wigton 2nds 16 Penrith 2nds 24.
