Penrith finally lost their grip on the County Cup which they have held since 2019 in the semi final at Kendal on Saturday when they went down 55-15.
Although the competition has not been held every season, with Covid intervening, they have won four finals in that period beating Kendal twice, Upper Eden and Carlisle.
David Preston took the strongest side he could muster but with a catalogue of injured players and other unavailabilities there was no real prospect of progressing to the final.
Like so many of Penrith’s away trips in the latter part of the season it was a matter of damage limitation and hopefully getting through the game without incurring further injuries.
The game started on a reasonable firm pitch with the rain just starting to fall but by the end of the 80 minutes the surface had cut up badly and conditions had deteriorated and it was a miserable afternoon.
This did not make for a very attractive game and there were plenty of handling errors but even so there was plenty to keep the spectators interested.
Kendal started the better and their superiority was rewarded after nine minutes after a midfield break was halted just short of the line, the support was on hand and the try under the posts by Robbie Kincart was easily converted by Evan Moir.
Although the home side looked by far the more dangerous with ball in hand Penrith spent long periods in possession and made few handling errors and frustrated their opponents as their forwards held on to the ball and played their driving game.
On 20 minutes Flyn Longrigg looked to have done a great job bundling the winger into touch just short of the line but his forwards were unable to retain possession at the ensuing lineout and the home side made a midfield break by Alfie Bradshaw and Ben Dixon ran in under the posts for Moir to add his second conversion.
Kendal scored a third from a rare handling error by the visitors when the loose ball was hacked from midfield by Matt Houghton to just short of the line where Oscar Coxon was able to gather it and dive over.
Moir’s conversion gave Kendal a 21-0 advantage at half time and they added to straight after the break with a sweeping move. When right winger Dan Shorrock broke free the ball was then swung to the left for their prop Andy Rogers to score in the corner.
At no time did the visitor’s effort slacken as they kept battling away and were rewarded with a try of their own.
They opted for a scrum when awarded a penalty on the home 22 and their forwards made ground and were camped on the home line following great drives from Jack Tunnicliffe and James Hogg.
It was Adam Howe who then finished off the attack as he powered over from close range.
However, Kendal added a fifth try after Penrith ball was turned over and although the long pass was risky no-one intercepted and Dafydd Philp collected to release Dixon who crossed for his second try, converted by Moir for 33-5.
To their credit the visitors came back again, when great play by Sam Wilson playing out of position at inside centre saw the combative Scott Lancaster take his side into an attacking position. When the ball went wide on the right Tunnicliffe had room to force his way over in the corner.
With ten minutes to go Moir kicked a penalty for Kendal and 36-10 would probably have been a fair reflection of the game but for that last period Penrith lost Jay Rossi who had had an influential game, as he came back from injury, and the home side took full advantage.
They scored a further three tries from Rogers, Ben O’Halloran (pick of the bunch on the day) and Philip, two of which were converted by Moir. Id did give the score a rather unfair reflection on the Penrith side’s efforts but they did manage the final score.
On 80 minutes they won a penalty deep in the home 22 and ran it, they went close and the home side were penalised once more so the ball was tapped and they went again from close range. Wilson eventually came up with the score his non-stop efforts thoroughly deserved. Â
Penrith’s thoughts now turn back to the league with a visit to Sandal which takes on even more importance as recent results have not gone their way and the Winters Park side now find themselves one place off the foot of the league.
For Kendal, surely safe from any late, lingering relegation concerns, they can look forward to the Cumbria Cup final when they will be lining up against Keswick at Aspatria on April 4.
