Penrith faced a tough task on Saturday against in-form second in the table Alnwick and despite the 40-26 defeat, gave a creditable display.
The visitors arrived at Winters Park on the back of ten consecutive wins stretching back to October having just beaten previously unbeaten top of the table Heath.
Penrith couldn’t have started much better as they had the better of the first 10 minutes and played some good rugby, largely orchestrated by young colt Olly Newton making his debut at scrum half, who went on to have a very promising first game.
The home side’s good opening play got them the first score from the second chance they had from an attacking line-out.
Sam Wilson took the ball at the tail and rather than set up the driving maul Jack Gaskell came round on the peel and drove for the line from five metres out.
He was initially held up but twisted out of contact to spin free and score with Rob Coward’s conversion sailing over for a seven point lead.
As so often has happened this season the Cumbrians failed to hold on to their lead and succumbed just two minutes later.
A speculative kick ahead bounced awkwardly twice and was not gathered and the Alnwick chaser took full advantage for a walk-in under the posts to level the scores.
For the middle period of the first half the away side dominated and Penrith were hanging on grimly trying just to stay in the game.
Alnwick scored a further three tries in this period, the first from a neat move creating an overlap off an attacking scrum which saw them score in the corner.
Then Penrith lost the ball in the middle of the pitch and the well-judged kick ahead from the turnover ball found the home fullback in attack and out of position for an easy collect and run in for the away winger.
They scored again following a penalty at the scrum on the 22 and again neatly worked the overlap.
The home side did finish the half on the front foot as Nick Dudson went close when they ran a penalty and they almost scored from an Alnwick scrum on their own line.
To this point the visitors’ forwards had been having the better of the set scrums but this time the Penrith eight drove them rapidly off their own ball on their own line and it was hard to see how either Penrith didn’t score or the visitors weren’t penalised.
This gave the home side a boost and they started the second half the better of the two, Coward fielded a kick ahead in his own half, avoided the first chaser and ran round the second to make ground before chipping the last defender. He was then body checked and the subsequent penalty was kicked to the corner.
The home side won the line-out and set-up the driving maul and Lee Chapman who was having an industrious afternoon came up with the score.
The Cumbrians continued to press and nearly scored following a break in behind the away defence by Newton then Fraser Nicolson nearly made it in at the corner.
They were in there giving it their all, and a break-out from their own half by Harley Johnson, backed up by Ant Davis and Dudson, looked promising but came to nothing.
Alnwick then came back into the frame and added another try following an attacking scrum.
The home side were still having the better of the second half and added a third try running a penalty in the away 22. Adam Howe was set-up on the charge and looked to have been held up but reached out to ground the ball for the try.
The visitors added a sixth try to lead 40-19 and as the game went into the last 10 minutes Penrith were in attacking mode looking for a fourth try to earn a bonus point.
It finally came when a wayward pass came to a surprised Wilson who got in behind the visitors’ first line of defence and when the ball was spun wide there was room for Johnson to have a clear run for the line and claim that fourth try.
They now trailed 40-26 and another converted try would earn them a second losing bonus point but they couldn’t quite manage that in the closing minute or two.
At the end of the game the side was pleased with their fighting spirit against a strong side and the fact they hadn’t come out of the game empty handed. Things looked quite optimistic until the other results came through.
Fellow strugglers York and Middlesbrough both faced top half of the league sides.
York managed a narrow win against their near neighbours Driffield and Middlesbrough had more surprisingly won 48-0 against Blaydon who appeared to have fielded a much changed side.
Penrith must now win at Blaydon this week to keep any hopes alive of maintaining their level five status.
