John Walshreports

Last updated 12:51, Tuesday, 21 October 2008

Penrith laid down a marker in North Two East when they beat unbeaten leaders Bellingham 23-18 in the first round of the EDF Intermediate Cup.

They are due to host the north east side at Winters Park in three weeks so this was a psychological boost.

Not so fortunate were Carlisle, beaten in the same competition 13-8, but only losing to North Two West leaders Rochdale by a late try.

At Billingham, Penrith played up the slope into a pretty strong cross wind and it was the hosts who started confidently on the back of five straight League wins.

On three minutes they put Penrith under the cosh, earned a penalty and put it over for the lead.

But strong running from number eight Ryan Johnson, supported by David Preston, forced Billingham to concede a penalty and Steve Wood converted to square things.

After ten minutes Billingham regained the lead with a drop goal from the Penrith 22.

Wood narrowly missed a penalty before Penrith took the lead against the run of play. A penalty was kicked to the Billingham 22 where the forwards won the line-out and drove the maul to within five metres of the line. Andrew Dawson was able to spin off and force his way over for Wood to convert and take a 10-6 lead.

Penrith were defending desperately at the end of the half as Billingham had a series of scrums and line-outs on the Penrith line but they held-out.

However Penrith were fortunate to get to the interval ahead as Billingham had been very pacey on the left flank and should have scored on a couple of occasions.

The sting was taken out of the game as an elongated half-time break was needed because the referee had pulled a hamstring.

As a result the referee was taken out of the second team to officiate while Penrith touch-judge Geoff Matthews refereed the Seconds.

This break and a series of long injury stops at the start of the second half seemed to take momentum out of Penrith’s game and they didn’t play with the same intensity for the third quarter.

They did extend their lead with a Wood drop goal but conceded the lead with a soft try when they allowed Billingham to break through the middle of a defensive line and score under the posts. The conversion made it 13-13.

Penrith took command with ten minutes to go and strong running again off the back of a scrum from Johnson, this time carried on by Callum Rutledge, carried the ball deep into the home 22.

The ball was spun out where Wood fed Martin Armstrong and he held it up to allow Wood to complete a run around and score in the corner.

The game then became very open with Billingham running everything but Wood, with the wind at his back pinned them back and a kick and chase into the corner caused mayhem as the home side failed to clear.

Armstrong went close before Johnson picked up a loose ball and drove over from close range to extend the lead to 23-13.

Billingham rallied and scored a try in the third minute of added time before Penrith had to endure another six minutes of added time before they heard the final whistle.

Edged out of the competition by their hosts they might have been, but Carlisle can now concentrate on league progress with their head held high.

Rochdale, top of the equivalent league to Carlisle, and with five league wins under their belts, obviously thought that passage to the next round might come easily. How mistaken they were!

From the off, Carlisle took the game to Rochdale and had them on the back foot for much of the opening twenty minutes, and shocked Rochdale with a try after just three minutes from scrum half Ben Blain, later voted by his team mates as their man of the match.

The angle was too much though for his half back partner, Glen Weightman, to add the conversion.

Carlisle maintained the initiative for a while though, in what to a large extent was a battle of wits in midfield.

The home side pegged away at the visiting defence and on twenty minutes drew level with an unconverted try before edging into the lead with a penalty sixteen minutes later.

But, just on the break Carlisle were awarded a penalty allowing Weightman to put his team into half time, level pegging.

In the second period Carlisle managed to maintain their fair share of the ball, through some good work from the forwards, particularly pivot, Lee Brumpton who us now starting to find form after a return from long term injury.

Sadly though, the hard work having been done to get the ball, poor handling and vision in the backs meant that the side were not able to benefit.

Rochdale added an unconverted try on seventy one minutes after a spell of dominance. Undeterred, Carlisle seemed determined to salvage something from the match and the hosts had their work cut out keeping the city side at bay in the final stages.

They were kept penned virtually on their own line for the last seven or eight minutes as Carlisle tried to break through. They were thwarted though, and despite numerous and repeated scrummage infringements, including five collapsed scrums, the mystery was why a penalty try was not awarded!

The disappointment was compounded after the match when the referee was overheard in conversation with his assessor, saying, "I was within half a second of giving a penalty try". Well, if it is in the mind, fairness dictates it should have been awarded.