The heavy defeats continued for Penrith with the worst so far coming at Harrogate where they lost 88-7.
Penrith knew the difficulty of the task that faced them as they had already faced Harrogate earlier in the season.
Although they had narrowly defeated them in the second game of the season they were probably the best all round side they had faced in the first round of games.
They went into the match with only five of the starting line up from that early game and only one of them a three-quarter, and it would prove to be tough afternoon.
The home side were very quickly into their stride and opened the scoring in the second minute with a flowing move over two phases using the pace of their outside backs.
The visitors then had a period where they were competitive and as long as they kept the play tight they could hold the home side and make some inroads.
Props Jack Gaskell and Adam Howe led from the front and Joe Kirkup was always in the thick of it and went close to scoring, getting deep into the home 22.
However, the home side always looked dangerous especially when they got the ball in the wide channels as their outside backs were all incisive and very pacy and hard to defend against once they got the ball to the wings.
They scored again after quarter of an hour and again on 25 minutes, and then in the 15 minutes before half time added another three tries to lead 43-0 at the break.
The second period started as the home side seemed to go through their whole repertoire of moves and started launching high box and cross field kicks which with enthusiastic chasers were proving difficult to defend.
Harrogate did add to their score but then the Cumbrians did have a bit of time and possession in the opposition 22. Chasing a chip through winger Mark Mason won turnover ball and his forwards backed this up with some decent driving play before the home side were penalised, the ball was kicked to the corner and Penrith had an attacking line-out.
The visitors may have had a torrid afternoon but their set plays were solid all game. Their props anchored the scrums well and Lee Chapman found young jumpers Matt Austwick and Morgan Bland well in the line-outs.
Penrith won this line-out and got to the line with the driven maul only to be held up over the line.
They did manage a score shortly after when the home side were penalised for a high tackle. Ashton Hook had the penalty tapped and was away and fed Harley Johnson, who continued the run, shrugged off the final tackle and scored a try his side deserved for their efforts over the full 80 minutes.
Harrogate continued to score at regular intervals despite the young Penrith’s side best efforts, but they never threw in the towel and continued to defend stoutly and in the main held the big home pack and were only really opened-up when the home threes were operating wide at pace. There could be no fault found with the players who were there they gave their all.
Xander Vasey made his debut and is the 49th player to represent the side. He put himself about and partnered Jimmy Hall in the second row of a scrum that didn’t go backwards.
The coaching team can only hope one or two come back from injury but they now do have some youngsters that have been blooded and have come on in recent weeks under very difficult circumstances.
