Penrith can clinch the league title on Saturday when they host Consett in their penultimate Regional 2 North game of the season — but head coach Dave Preston warned earlier this week that they were taking nothing for granted.
On Saturday a comfortable bonus point victory at Middlesbrough put them in an almost unassailable position and Preston said: “It was a really great result against the only side that have beaten us at home this season.
“We had a bit of a changed squad; we’ve been lucky with injuries, but it’s that time in the season and we’ve picked up a few knocks.
“The lads who came in on Saturday were excellent. Youngsters Rob Coward and Dylan Thompson, who have come in recently, have really stood up to the mark, and this week saw Aaron Cavaghan and Sam Kirkman come into the squad and they looked as if they had played all season.
“We need to keep our feet on the ground — yes, we won away but we haven’t won the league yet.
“If we prepare properly and turn up on Saturday with our right heads on, we should get the result we need.”
Middlesbrough 13, Penrith RUFC 64
A feature of Penrith’s season has been the small number of injuries and unavailabilities. But on Saturday head coach David Preston had some head-scratching to do with a minor crisis as it was originally a free weekend with this fixture being rearranged.
However, when Preston could call on players of the ability of Ross Jackson, Aaron Cavaghan and Sam Dudson, his problems filling the gaps were also minor.
Middlesbrough are the only side to have won at Winters Park this season when they played exceptionally well. Penrith knew they could not afford a slow start on Saturday and started at 100 miles an hour.
The pace was frenetic and they were trying just a little bit too hard. Attempting to score from every piece of possession and forcing the play was leading to mistakes which allowed the hosts to prosper.
It was the Cumbrians who scored first. They almost scored from the first play of the game when a loose ball was hacked down the field and they just failed to get the touchdown.
From the goal line drop-out, good strong running by Sam Wilson and Scott Lancaster got close to the line and Adam Howe crashed over. Mike Fearon missed the conversion into a stiff breeze but he went on to hit seven out of 10 in very unhelpful conditions.
A Penrith infringement at the scrum allowed the home side to kick a penalty to trail by two points but they came straight back and scored from the restart.
Mason Lewthwaite stripped the home centre as they tried to run the ball out of their own half. Lancaster secured possession with he and Lee Chapman taking the ball on and when it came into space Lewthwaite powered through the defensive line and fed the ball inside to George Graham, who went in under the posts.
The visitors then conceded two penalties in quick succession allowing the North East side to kick another three points, and then yet another penalty allowed them to kick to the corner. They worked the lineout catch and drive nicely and found themselves leading 13-12 on 20 minutes.
But Penrith calmed themselves down and started to play a bit more controlled rugby. A third try came from a penalty kicked to the corner.
Chris Jackson took the lineout throw, they set up the driven maul from eight metres out and, as it closed in on the line, it wheeled and Lancaster broke off to force his way over and claim the try.
The fourth came after Graham cleared up a scrappy lineout ball. Ross Jackson in midfield made the break and found Graham, who put Jamie McNaughton in under the posts. And the Cumbrians added a fifth when McNaughton broke free on halfway and released Rob Coward, who beat two men for pace to score.
Penrith led 33-13 at the break and it looked like being a long 40 minutes for the home side playing into the wind.
Coward grabbed a second thanks to an accurate cross-field kick from Fearon which found him in acres of space on the right wing and he had plenty of time to control the ball and claim the try.
The next try came as the home side pressured the visitors on their own 22. McNaughton was quickly on to some sluggish, telegraphed passing. He took the interception and ran three-quarters the length of the field to score under the posts.
The home side’s effort never faded but Penrith were in control. Graham scored a second when they opted for a scrum in the 22 following a penalty and a 50/20 punt by Fearon with the wind at his back put them in a great position in the home 22; this time it was Andy Muir who came up with the score.
And a final try came when Penrith ran a penalty and good hands saw Nick Dudson go over in the corner.
All eyes in the changing room were on phones looking for the Morpeth score. They had just beaten Durham and scored four tries so the Winters Park men now need two points against Consett on Saturday to be mathematically sure of the title and promotion.
- The date for Penrith’s Cumbria County Cup Final against Upper Eden has been set for Saturday, 18th March, at Kendal RUFC, kick-off time to be confirmed.
