Keswick 1st XV’s rearranged North One West league match against Penrith was played under floodlights on Winters Park’s artificial surface last Friday evening in calm and mild conditions. Keswick kicked off and Penrith showed their intent by immediately running the ball back before giving away an early penalty from which Keswick failed to find touch, allowing Penrith to attack again.

The first scrum was to Keswick and was well won, forcing the Penrith defence to come offside and give away a penalty some 28 metres out from their line. Lewis Bell successfully converted and not for the first time this season Keswick took an early lead, this time with 5 minutes on the clock. Penrith then won 3 successive penalties which saw them throw into the line out in the Keswick 22 but they were unable to make use of the ball and were awarded a scrum some 10 metres out. Winning quick and clean possession, Penrith ran the ball right for their centre to cross under the posts for a converted try, 3-7 on 10 minutes.

Penrith then put in a good period of play, making use of their centres to break the line but found the Keswick defence holding firm and their progress was slow. Regaining possession, Keswick kicked through and, having followed up swiftly, Ryan Weir pressured the home side’s fullback into knocking the ball forward, only for a player in front of him to play the ball and give away a penalty in front of the posts. Another successful kick by Bell reduced the deficit to 6-7 with quarter of the game gone and it was clear that this was going to be a tight game, with a lot of vocal support for both sides from the sizeable crowd.

A pattern of play had developed, Penrith having much of the possession and running the ball at every opportunity, whilst with less possession and having to defend, Keswick often used the boot to clear downfield. On 30 minutes Penrith developed a driving maul from a line out inside the Keswick 22 and, judged to have brought it down illegally, a Keswick player was yellow carded. The penalty was kicked to the corner and Penrith caught and drove, a tactic that was proving successful, but their handling let them down and they knocked the ball forward, giving the Keswick defence welcome relief.

That relief was short lived as a knock forward at the scrum gave the ball back to Penrith who drove in the scrum before picking up and heading for the try line. The Keswick defence was again up to the challenge and in trying to keep possession Penrith failed to release in the tackle and again, Keswick were able to clear. Another kick and chase by Keswick ended with another failure to release by the home side, gaining the offending player a yellow card as he was close the their try line and Bell gave Keswick the lead 7-9 with his third successful kick as the half time whistle went.

Attacking from the start of the second half, Penrith’s handling let them down again as a knock forward gave the scrum put in to Keswick. Once play got to the midfield area, Jamie Mckenzie put in a good run before Harry Vaillant made more good progress until he was stopped and Keswick gained a penalty. Kicked to the corner, the ball was won well by Liam Ridley but good Penrith defence caused a knock forward and the attacking opportunity was lost. Shortly afterwards, having regained possession, Vaillant and Weir combined on the right before the ball was passed back inside to George Holme who scored on 48 minutes, the try converted by Bell for a 7-16 lead.

For a while, Keswick had the upper hand, kicking well from hand and following up to put pressure on, causing the home defence to knock forward once more. A succession of injuries disrupted the flow of the game but on 53 minutes Bell converted his fourth penalty to extend the visitors’ lead further, 7-19. Penrith are not a team to give up and they attacked again from the restart, gaining a penalty which they kicked to the corner, and drove from the line out, only to be stopped by an excellent defence, which held the ball up over the line. Running from the back of the 5 metre scrum they managed to knock the ball forwards but Keswick were forced to touch down over the line for another Penrith 5 metre scrum. They attacked again from the back of the scrum but were held up over the line for a second time. Unable to drive across the line close to the scrum Penrith ran the ball right and although initially prevented from scoring they recycled to touch down in the right hand corner, the conversion successful for 14-19 with less than a quarter of the game to go.

With just over 10 minutes left Keswick lost a player to a yellow card and were clearly conscious that the average points scored when a team is one player short is 7 points against. Penrith kicked to the corner, their favourite play from a penalty in the Keswick half but were unable to benefit on this occasion. Having lost a prop to injury and a player down, the Keswick scrum came under pressure and, pushed back in their own 22 on their own put in, lost possession as the ball came out from the side and the Penrith No 8 was quickest to the ball, running in from 15 metres to level the scores. Having successfully converted from the touchline it seemed that this would be an easy kick to give Penrith the game, with only a few minutes left, but to the delight of the visiting supporters the ball drifted left and the scores stayed level, 19-19.

Regaining possession from the restart Keswick pressed forward towards the halfway line, always going left until Holme spotted Weir in open territory on the right wing. A long pass out, gathered from behind him, put Weir in a tight spot, but he was able to run outside his opposing winger before cutting inside the fullback. He then outpaced the covering defence coming in from the left to cross and touch down to give Keswick the lead again. Having an excellent day with the boot, Bell was able to convert his sixth kick of the game with the final whistle going immediately afterwards.

This was a thrilling and well fought contest between 2 well matched teams. The Keswick defence was excellent, Bell’s place kicking spot on and Penrith’s indiscipline in the first half cost them dear. Keswick chalked up the second win of the season, the first away from home, and the supporters are looking forward to the visit of Vale of Lune on Saturday. Only 5 places above us in the league, the away game went their way in October by a large margin. Expect the result to be much closer on Saturday, with kick off at 2.15pm.