Penrith Rugby Club had the ideal opportunity to break their run of poor away performances when they visited rock-bottom side De La Salle.

But the Cumbrians crashed to a 24-21 defeat, their ninth of the season and even more embarrassing than the 87 points they conceded at Manchester two weeks earlier.

After 16 games, the home side had neither a win nor a draw to their name and only a handful of bonus points. But, importantly, they had troubled Penrith back in September in the reverse fixture in Cumbria.

Penrith could have no complaints as De La Salle deserved their win but they do have to look at themselves.

The Salford side have amassed nine points this season in 17 games and six of them have come against Penrith, two bonus points in the game at Winters Park and four for the home win. For their part, Penrith have accumulated 14 bonus points, more than any other team in North One West – and it’s a good job they have, or they would be in deep relegation trouble, instead of being eight points clear of the danger zone.

The game had got off to a pretty even start as the home side offered plenty of endeavour with a simple game plan, running hard and straight.

Penrith stood their ground and the game had developed into a bit of a slugging match before De La Salle took the lead when their centre made two consecutive breaks to score a converted try.

The Cumbrians hit back following a penalty to the corner from which the forwards won the line-out but the drive for the line was thwarted. After a series of forward pick and goes, the ball came to the backs where Nathan Wooff set-up Jay Rossi, who hit the line at pace, running at a good angle and he burst through to score. Wooff’s conversion levelled the scores.

Penrith were being tested by the home side’s robust approach and they came under pressure as the first half came to an end.

Jon Fell was unlucky to be yellow-carded, making a try-saving tackle that was adjudged to be high.

The resulting penalty was kicked to the corner and Penrith had to defend a line-out, a tap penalty and then a scrum, all from five metres. They looked to have weathered the storm when Mike Raine secured turnover ball but the clearance kick was poor and low. It flew into a Penrith player who was penalised for being offside and, in the confusion, De La Salle scored from the quickly-taken tap penalty.

Penrith came straight back when they found some space down the blind-side and Ross Jackson made some headway before setting Brad Taylor away in his first game back after injury. He had a bit to do but looked sharp, and beat one defender before stepping back inside the full-back to score. Wooff again added the two points to level the scores at 14 apiece.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first with both sides trying to out muscle each other with little finesse being involved.

The home side then scored following a penalty to the corner. The initial drive was repulsed as were several more efforts but there was no tackler on the left of the breakdown and the home forward was able to flop over for a soft try.

The Penrith riposte again wasn’t long in coming. Rossi showed a bit of pace to clear the first line of defence and he then moved the ball on to Taylor who showed a clean pair of heels to the chasers for the try. Wooff again levelled things with the conversion.

The game went into the final 10 minutes with the two teams tied and the game in the balance, and Penrith were then the masters of their own downfall. The referee was not perhaps having his best game but that was no excuse for throwing the ball to the ground and questioning a forward pass decision.

A De La Salle put into the scrum turned into a De La Salle penalty, which was struck with aplomb, and Penrith were scrambling to save the game.

They went close in the last few minutes when they had pressure on the line but they couldn’t get over.