Penrith faced another difficult weekend on the road with a testing trip to Alnwick and lost their latest Regional 1 North East clash 50-7.
Not only did they face a strong home side with a patched-up team, suffering from an unprecedented number of injuries and unavailabilities, but played on an afternoon of atrocious weather.
The game went ahead in a gale with the rain varying from extremely heavy to torrential.
They played into the elements in the first half and were soon under pressure after knocking on the kick-off.
It looked as though they would concede a very early try but handling was proving difficult and the ball carrier spilt the ball as he went over the line.
The score wasn’t long in coming after Penrith were unfortunate to be penalised for a marginal high tackle.
The penalty was kicked to the corner and the big home pack worked the catch and drive from the line-out for the first try.
Alnwick were attacking in great waves, a bit like the driving rain and they quickly clocked up another two scores and after nine minutes they led by 19 and a cricket score looked on the cards.
The visitors were never going to win the game from here but their never-say-die attitude did mean they weren’t going to get swamped.
A quickly taken penalty by Ashton Hook got them on the front foot and Isaac Murray continued the run into the home 22 but they couldn’t force the try as the ball was lost and hacked up-field with the wind.
All the players were in the home 22 and the chase was on for the ball now in the Penrith 22. Fraser Nicolson did well to win the race to the ball and was then able to retain possession till support arrived and the danger cleared.
The Cumbrians had another decent spell in the home 22 as the home side conceded a number of penalties.
Adam Howe went close from a tap penalty as they looked for an opening score but it was the home side next on the scoresheet with another two tries.
Although Penrith finished the half by pressuring the home line again they trailed 33-0 at the break.
The visitors started the second period on the attack and again went close to scoring but eventually Alnwick broke out with an interception and Penrith had the pace of Murray to thank for not conceding.
The home side only managed one try in the first half hour of the second half and the ever game Penrith side then managed one of their own.
A good run by Lee Chapman and a another powerful surge by Howe got Joe Kirkup within striking distance and he took a host of defenders over with him to avoid his side being “nilled”.
As the game went into the final 10 minutes Penrith had one of their young replacements yellow carded and lost Murray with a shoulder injury and were reduced to 13 players.
Their effort never faltered but they conceded another two tries and the final score did not truly reflect the effort and guts they had shown.
No-one could have any argument with the lads who had turned up and toiled in the rain and the wind, they had given their all.
Penrith had turned up to fulfil the fixture and leave with their heads held high and they more than did that.
