Following the escalation of Corona Virus it was with some relief that we were able to host this fixture. It was also a pleasure to entertain our Cumbrian friends who had made the long journey to Moss Farm. It is fair to say that Penrith have had a tough time recently having so many players unavailable for a variety of reasons. In contrast Martin Poste made only one change to last weeks starting line up bringing James Wood in for the absent Will du Randt. With the rain just about holding off all was set for an entertaining afternoon.

The start of the match stunned the home side as Penrith took early control. Ambition was evident as they carried the ball with purpose asking questions of the home defenses. An early injury to Burmah brought Chris Dale into the contest and on 20 minutes he made his presence felt. A clearance kick was gathered by husbands and he carried the ball deep into the visitors half . The ball was recycled and quick handling allowed Chris Dale to open the Northwich account with an unconverted try. Northwich were beginning to take control and five minutes later an attacking scrum was driven providing the platform for Williams to pick up and drive over the line for a try which Baldwin converted. Halfway into the second quarter the blacks were given a wake up call. When trying to run the ball out of their 22 a fumble allowed Penrith to exploit and following some swift handling they scored an unconverted try. This seemed to galvanize Northwich and they immediately applied pressure. The visitors had a scrum close to their line which was won against the head. The attack on the line was eventually finished off by Joe Maddocks. Baldwin added the extras and normal service was resumed. With the half entering stoppage time the blacks won a lineout the ball was moved to mid-field and the half break saw man of the match Davidson in support to score a fine try for Baldwin to convert sending the blacks into the break 26-5 to the good.

With the second half just five minutes old Baldwin gathered a defensive kick. He spotted a huge space behind the visitors line and delivered the perfect kick for Richard Dale to run onto and kick into the in-goal area and touchdown for a try which Baldwin converted. The next score came from a great charge by Maddocks who provided a neat pass that was moved wide for Husbands to score in the corner. Baldwin stepped up and converted to complete what turned out to be the final score for the blacks. At this point Northwich appeared to put the foot on the break and Penrith refused to lie down. The final twenty minutes belonged to Penrith who were reward with an unconverted try following a long period of pressure. The match came to a close and credit must be given to Penrith who clearly had players out of position but never took a step back.

Poste was pleased with parts of the performance but realises there will need to be a step up next week at Broughton Park.

Next week Northwich travel to Broughton Park 3pm KO

1 Mike Bradshaw 2 Mike Gough 3 Joe Maddocks 4 Chris Heywood 5 Patrick Fray 6 Jack Baille 7 Tom Clark 8 Phil Williams 9 Matthew Poste 10 Nick Baldwin 11 Shaun Burmah 12 Richard Dale 13 Scott Davidson 14 James Wood 15 Tom Husbands 16 Joe Laddle17 Chris Dale 18 Aaron Collins