Penrith had another fruitless Saturday afternoon on the road when they visited Sandal in Regional 1 North East and went down 43-7.
They travelled in reasonable spirits, being able to field a stronger side than of late and facing a side in the bottom half of the table.
Sandal had started the season poorly but had then shown some improved form and were now three places and six points above the Cumbrians in the league table.
They had won handsomely at Winters Park back in November as Penrith’s form dipped.
The home side couldn’t have made a better start to this game as in the opening play they scored with a sweeping move from their own half and followed it up adding a second try after eight minutes to lead 12-0.
Penrith were shell-shocked but slowly got themselves a foothold in the game and were able to exert some pressure with decent periods of possession.
They worked their way down the field and their forwards were within striking distance of the home line.
Adam Howe drove deep into the defence and the ball came to Jack Gaskell, and rather than drive in himself he hit Greg Wrathall with the ball who ran a great angle back towards the breakdown and found the gap and went in under the posts. Rob Coward converted and the visitors were back in it.
As has so often happened of late, immediately after scoring, the Winters Park men conceded again and they were now two scores down again trailing 19-7 with only 15 minutes gone.
The pitch was short of grass at the start of the game but it was dry and the surface was good, although that soon changed when the rain that was forecast began to fall and the surface soon deteriorated and turned into a bit of a mud bath.
Penrith, in recent time, have struggled in these conditions being more used to the permanent firm state of their artificial grass pitch.
That said it is the same for both sides and for over 20 minutes there was no addition to the score and Penrith gave as good as they got and looked as if they might get back on terms.
As the first half drew to a close they lost the ball in the home 22 and were caught on the hop as Sanda hacked the turnover ball upfield.
The ball was gathered but the defender was penalised for hanging on.
The home side had the penalty taken quickly and with half the visiting defenders out of position scored a fourth try that effectively put the game to bed.
The Sandal pitch has quite a slope on it and the Cumbrians had played downhill in the first half and now had to try and battle up the slope.
The third quarter was hard fought as neither side added to their scores, although Sandal always looked the more dangerous.
They went close on a number of occasions and Coward made one remarkable recovery, chasing back and tackling the runner on the line and managing to keep him on his back to save the try.
In the final quarter, however, the home side came good and added three further tries but the visitors did finish strongly almost managing to score at the death as the home supporters were baying for a further score and a 50-point total.
It is do or die this weekend for the side’s hopes of avoiding relegation as they face fellow strugglers Middlesbrough where only a win will do.
This season their home performances have been much better than efforts away so they can only hope for a much improved showing and a little bit of luck for once.
