Penrith’s senior men held their presentation night at the weekend and the first and second team received their end of season awards.
Gary Johnson kicked off the proceedings speaking for the second team management team.
He reflected on a successful campaign where they had finished second to Wigton’s first team in the Cumbria League and they were also through to the final of the county shield competition. (final played 10/5/25 at Wigton v Keswick)
They had had an excellent start to the season going unbeaten for a long period before having a bit of a blip then finishing strongly.
He then went on to announce the awards. Matt Austwick took the young players trophy, most improved player was Jack Mason and the coaches’ player was Joe Spencley. The players’ player which is probably the most coveted went to the ever popular Mo Geranshoab who captained the side.
Next up was first team captain George Graham who started by saying his thank yous to those who helped in and around the side.
He reflected on a decent season, despite a large number of injuries and unavailability, finishing seventh in the league where an improvement in away form would see the side finish well into the top half, he also expressed his pleasure in winning the county cup for the fourth time in succession.
First team manager Mike Sanderson took the stand for the first team awards. He started with a tribute to a player who hadn’t won an award this season or in any previous ones.
He had come to the club in 2011, played 262 games and been an excellent clubman throughout. Craig Price had just announced his retirement from senior rugby and had served the club well, he had organised this event at short notice without being to ask twice. Sanderson advised him to give his retirement some serious thought as he could confirm you are a long long time too old to play.
The top try scorer went to Archie Rattray with a total of 17, Graham was next with 11 then Joe Kirkup with nine. He was followed by props Adam Howe and Andy Rogers on eight. This was the second year in succession a forward had won this trophy but you had to go back to season 2004/5 to find another and that was Mark Taylor.
The young player’s award for a second season went to Isaac Murray, who before he jetted off to Australia, had played 18 games and had been extremely influential for a player of his age.
Most improved player was Jimmy Hall who came into the side when Rogers suffered a knee injury and the transition had been a smooth one with the Penrith pack maintaining their dominance over almost all their opponents at the set scrum.
The players’ player was a tight affair with Howe just pipping Rattray at the final count and the player of the year trophy went to Howe who had had a wonderful season.
Not only had he notched up eight tries he had played 80 minutes in every game bar one where he had come off in the second half with a turned ankle.
His attitude after stepping back from the captaincy had been excellent, he had trained well and was one of the few who looked to play every game.
Graham, like him had played in every game and Price and Lee Chapman had only missed two.
