PENRITH concluded their best-ever season by retaining the Cumbria Cup at Wigton with a 31-20 victory over Carlisle.
 
They had finished in their highest-ever League position – third in National Three North – and then saw off a gritty Carlisle challenge to keep their grip on the county’s most prestigious silverware.
 
Penrith approached the final with some confidence knowing they had played at a level higher all season than their opponents, even though they did not expect an easy ride.
 
Initially it looked as if they might win at a canter but in the end it turned out to be a tense nail-biting affair. It certainly did not live up to the pre-match billing by some who were predicting a slaughter for the city side.
 
The final was contested by the same two teams for the second successive year and in the opening half the Carlisle side were unsteady, and uncharacteristically nervous, especially in the opening quarter of the game.
 
The two sides met three times last season, twice in the league and the cup final, and on each occasion the Carlisle pack were the dominant force, but this time they struggled to achieve the same primacy.
 
The game was not played in the best of conditions with a strong wind blowing down the field and a hard, badly rutted pitch. It was during this early period that the Penrith side dominated, when they had first use of the following wind, and forced Carlisle onto the back foot for lengthy periods.
 
Carlisle started aggressively with ball in hand and took the game to Penrith, but they looked a little more fragile in defence.
 
Penrith went ahead as early as the third minute when they took the first scrum against the head on their own 10 metre line as they shunted the Carlisle pack off the ball.
 
Mike Raine broke from number eight and the ball was moved via David Preston, Gav Cartmel and Mike Hawley to Joe Nattrass on the wing who clipped the ball over the cover up the middle of the field. The ball ended up just short of the try line and when the final defender failed to deal with it Hawley was on hand to snap up a kind bounce to score. Steve Wood added the conversion.
 
Penrith lost Preston for ten minutes following some backchat to the officials but they extended their lead in his absence.
 
Their 14 men were able to pin the city side back with the aid of the wind and Sandy Kerridge initiated the next score when he fielded a clearance kick. The ball was quickly spun to the left and when Nattrass was caught on the wing he made the ball available and it quickly came back left.
 
Penrith's pacey hooker, "man of the match", James Thornton found himself up against his opposite numbers in the Carlisle front row and  burst through the centre for a fine try. Wood again converted.

Penrith continued to turn the screw and a raking Wood kick with the wind rolled into touch close to the try line. Although the city side won the lineout Mike Stephens was sharp enough to catch Glen Weightman who spilt the ball. From the five metre scrum Raine broke again from number eight and made the line, only to be held up. This resulted in a second five metre scrum and again Raine broke but this time he cleverly stood the ball up for Ryan Johnson to power over.
 
Wood missed the conversion but within three minutes he was successful with another. The Carlisle midfield were robbed of the ball in attack on half way and it was shipped quickly to the left to Nattrass who made progress up the wing. When he was stopped the ball was moved across the midfield where Thornton took it at pace off the shoulder of Stephens. From the break he looked as if he was going to grab his second try but was hauled down just short.
 
But Paul Newton was on hand to finish the move and score the try which was just reward for his consistently outstanding performances all season.
 
Four tries in arrears, three converted within twenty two minutes, and a 26-0 realisation dawned that whilst Penrith had the points on the board, they were not invincible! 
 
Carlisle began to get their game put together with winger Lee Tinnion and full back James Clarke both touching down wide out to claw back the deficit.  
 
There was genuine endeavour to haul themselves back into the game, and with the break beckoning, it looked like they would turn round just sixteen points in arrears. 
 
But, Penrith, realising it was all was to play for pounded the city line as the half drew to a close. They had a scrum and lineout on the line and after Glen Carr went close they eventually scored when they ran a penalty five metres out.
 
Several drives were stopped just short before a Thornton dummy and go found the gap and he
crossed for his second score.
 
Unfortunate it may have been for Carlisle, but it certainly galvanised skipper Steve Stamper and his men.  After the turn round, and with the wind advantage, they gave Penrith a torrid time, and had they had a little more luck, could have turned the game round. 
 
Penrith were forced into frantic defence, and certainly didn't look like adding to their first half tally.
 
It became the classic game of two halves and Penrith spent much of the second period happy to stem the Carlisle flow.
 
Weightman, perhaps a little unsure on the day, landed a penalty after 47 minutes and number eight Lee Brumpton touched down in the 64th minute when the Penrith pack were shoved back over their own line.
 
Now with only eleven points between the teams, Carlisle scented they might still be able to turn the game around.  

They piled on the pressure and with eight minutes remaining, scrum half Ben Blain was powering down the left wing when he chipped the ball over the last man, and had he not been cynically tackled without the ball and bundled into touch, he would have made the line. 
 
It was a blatant try scoring chance that was thwarted by unsporting play, and only the referee thought a penalty try wasn’t justified!
 
That was the telling moment of the game, and despite their heroic second half efforts, Carlisle just could not make it count.
 
The Penrith rearguard just about handled everything that Carlisle threw at them, and as the game drew to a close Penrith were happy to drive the ball up through the forwards to kill the game and see it out.
 
That allowed captain Rob Dawson to lift the Cup for the second year in succession and five times in eleven years.

Naturally we have the best rugby union action shots on getnoticedonline.co.uk. DAVE NATTRASS snapped the Penrith team celebrating ater their triumph, while recording tries by James Thornton, Ryan Johnson, Mike Hawley and Paul Newton with DAVID MORTON concentrating on a run by Chris Harris which helped spark the Carlisle revival.

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