Workington's hopes of reaching their first Cumbria Cup Final since 2002 were shattered by holders Penrith.

After their drubbing the week before at Stockport in the final league game of the season Penrith had hoped to get the disappointment out of their system in the Cup semi final and they did so effectively, winning the tie 45-15.
 
In front of another decent ESG crowd - among them Cumbrian born RFU President John Owen - the Zebras didn't play badly as a whole, but the two division chasm was clearly evident as the men from Winters Park booked their place in the next Saturday’s final at Wigton against Carlisle.

It was Penrith who opened the scoring on three minutes when Mike Hawley, the former Workington player, gathered the ball after a bout of ping pong kicking.

He beat several players before chipping ahead into the home 22 and won an attacking line-out as the ball was hacked into touch.

Penrith secured the ball at the lineout and drove for the line through David Preston and Rob Dawson. It was Preston who finally dived over. Steve Wood played but was hampered with a sore hamstring so James Ellar had the kicking duties for the day and was narrowly wide with the conversion
 
Zebras pressed for a swift response and got one two minutes later with a clinically executed penalty from Jonny Howarth.

There then followed a spell of Zebras dominance in which Ben Lanigan's men did everything except score - a try scoring chance went begging and Howarth missed two kickable penalties. 

Penrith made a catalogue of handling errors, giving away possession and position on a regular basis.  Although they conceded a five-metre scrum and penalties close to the line their defence was good enough and held firm,

Penrith then took hold of the game again and when they stopped making schoolboy errors looked
reasonably comfortable.

They extended their lead on the half hour from a scrum in the home 22. Mike Raine broke from number eight and almost made the line before feeding Gavin Cartmel who did very well to squeeze over with
several defenders much larger than himself in close attendance. Ellar converted for a 12-3 lead.
 
Three minutes later, Penrith were down to 14 men when Glenn Carr was sin binned.  However, Zebras could not take advantage of having the extra man and Penrith saw out the first half 12 -3 to the good.

The game was effectively won in the first ten minutes of the second  half. Penrith were on the attack immediately and from a five metre scrum in the corner Raine broke from the base and blasted down the narrow > side to score.

Shortly after a loop in the Penrith centre created a clear overlap for Sandy Kerridge on the wing, and he was clean through with only the full back to beat, which he did with ease and at 24-3 Penrith had the game in the bag.

Former Zebras try machine Hawley was given an uncomfortable welcome back to his old hunting ground when he was almost taken out by a cutting tackle from Jason Howarth, but the Penrith man had the last laugh on the hour when he collected a stray Zebras kick and proceeded to break away and sprint into the corner for a brilliant try that Ella embellished with two more points.
 
At 31 - 3 up with 20 minutes to go, Penrith took their foot of the pedal and Zebras took advantage of this with two tries in pretty much quick succession - first David Bowe stormed over, then Chris Thompson followed suit.  Only Bowe's try was converted, this time by Kevin Harper.

The home side had a glimmer of hope but two late tries put the game beyond doubt. The home backs attacked from their own 22 but spilt the ball and a couple of sharp passes gave Ellar a simple run in and the final try was a bit of class.

Gavin Young who hadn't played all season was called-up as a last minute replacement and came on for the final quarter. He received the ball with a little bit of room on the 22, found another gear, made an outside break and glided in making all those watching, and hopefully himself, wonder what he had been doing all season standing on the touchline.

By this time, Workington were drained and just wanted to get off the pitch and in the closing seconds, their centre Dion Seath was struck in the face by the ball and was briefly concussed.  Referee Dean Lythgoe blew for time and an ambulance was called to take Seath to hospital.
 
Workington can take comfort from having had a fine season - third in their league and a Cup semi - and will be one of the favourites for promotion from Cumbria North Lancs in 2010/11. 

Penrith should start as stonewall certainties to retain the Cumbria Cup against a Carlisle side who have yet to play a cup game, having had a walkover in the quarter final and a bye in the semi.

DAVID NATTRASS took the pictures at the Ellis and features tries from (in descending order) - Gavin Young, Mike Hawley and Mike Raine.

Remember, the best rugby action shots are on getnoticedonline.co.uk through our team of photographers spread across the county.

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