This away fixture was always going to be a difficult match given we only won in the last minute last season and given the form of Penrith this season including a fine away win at Sheffield earlier this season. We were worried about the heavier pack that has been mentioned in previous reports. Despite the changes to the team, the very windy conditions; Wirral were able to win through with a victory which gained the club 5 points and moved them up to 3rd place in the league with Blackburn’s result not yet registered. There was a very heavy rain shower when we reached Tebay some 20 minutes short of Penrith but at the club it was sunny and high winds when we reached that fine county of Cumbria.
For Wirral there were a number of injuries with NICK HEARN, ROB PEARL and BEN BROOKS all out injured coupled with the non-availability of other players, BEN LEWIS and CHRIS SPEED. We were able to bring JAMES ANNETTS back into the centre alongside TOM COLE with MARK WILLIAMS in at fly half. The back row was SAM VICKERS, CONNER MOORE and HARRY CROPPER-JOYCE. The subs were JOE FURY, JOSH STEAD and DAN HARVEY.
Wirral played against the wind in the first half and the match started with Penrith looking to move the ball and to utilise their larger forwards to make inroads but the Wirral team tackled well to resist the pressures. The away team did well to stem the home attacks. Gradually Wirral worked their way into the game; TOM AKEHURST made a break after a good run from WILL MORRIS but the final pass inside was not collected. From this position the Wirral attacked through the forwards and were rewarded with a try by CONNOR MOORE. The conversion was out wide and RHYS JAMES just failed as the wind drifted the ball wide of the posts. 0-5 (14 minutes).
Penrith kicked off, straight into touch, however on 20 mins a penalty from Penrith some 40m out also hit the posts and Wirral cleared. 5 minutes later a further kick by Penrith from 18m was scored, 3-5 (25 mins). Wirral continued to press and despite having a kicking opportunity decided to go for a penalty and after much limited progress it ended with TOM COLE crossing out wide, again the conversion was missed, 3-10 (29 mins).
Penrith continued to attack but dropped ball enabling Wirral to attack downfield and kept play in the 20m area and from forward play the Wirral team moved forward and that try scoring forward JOE ADNAMS was on hand to touch down again. The conversion attempt was again missed by MARK WILLIAMS-hitting the post again. With the score 3-15 against the wind after 38 minutes, Wirral supporters were hoping to keep this score until half time however this was not the case when a penalty was given against Wirral! This enabled the home side to score under the posts, duly converted to leave the score 10-15 at half time.
The second half started with Penrith changing their form of play and looking to spread the ball more with inside passes to their bigger forwards. On 45m Wirral progressing up field, a dropped pass enabled Penrith to progress down field and they scored wide out and the conversion just scraped over the bar to give Penrith the lead 17-15. After 53 mins, JOE ADNAMS was sin binned for a high tackle having had an elbow thrust into his face. JOE FURY came into the front row with HARRY CROPPER-JOYCE being side lined- having played well in the match. With 7 forwards against them, Penrith played with greater intensity and just two minutes later Penrith scored their third try out wide. The conversion attempt which took nearly two minutes just failed, but left the home side with a 22-15 lead (55 minutes). It was not long before Penrith were again attacking the Wirral line but their attempt to score was held up over the line.
After 12 mins, JOE ADNAMS was allowed back on the field; JOE FURY came off and was replaced by JOSH STEAD.
Wirral continued to press and an interception by MARK WILLIAMS set up an attack but the final pass of the attack was dropped by the Wirral right winger with the try line at his mercy. DAN HARVEY came on for ALFIE KIMPTON. On 69 minutes a long kick downfield from Penrith was collected by WILL MORRIS who made good progress up-field and led to Wirral in the 20m area, good passing led to CONNOR MOORE (his 2nd) crossing over for the bonus point try, close to the posts duly converted by RHYS JAMES to leave the score at 22-22 (74 mins).
In the next 6 minutes, helped by winning two balls of the Penrith line outs, resulted in two kickable penalties from 28m and 21m by RHYS JAMES gave Wirral a 22-28 lead on 78 mins. Penrith continued to attack and finally came to nought with a tackle into touch when Penrith were 15 m short. This enabled Wirral to win the ball and clear to touch, thus ending the game.
This was a hard fought game and as comments were made in the Penrith programme ;”that if you look closer at the Wirral record that all 3 of their wins have been against teams in the league who have not won a game”. This was a good win for Wirral given the weather conditions and the numerous changes to the team; after all it was our third away game of the season.
Next week we are at home to Newport (Salop) for our first match against this team with a 3.00pm kick off.