Well it was an early start at a damp overcast Warwick Road last Sunday! With the coaches not having a changing room or equipment store key, the day didn’t start as we expected! With Penrith taking shelter by the club house veranda, and the Carlisle boys just stood in the rain, this wasn’t the start either Coaches were expecting!

Although Carlisle had 2 or 3 late cry offs with lads feeling unwell, it meant Carlisle started the game with the bare bones of a squad of only 17 players, but the game started as planned at 10am and with the extremely testing conditions and having been on a very difficult run of games the boys confidence was low! So with only 5 minutes on the clock, the coaches feared the poor run of results would frustratingly go on as our previous 3 games, when Penrith got the better of the early exchanges and scored a good forwards try in the far corner of the pitch!

Time to be stood up and counted for the Carlisle lads, and thankfully today, unlike previous weeks, they dug deep and found their belief from deep within! And following some good all round play from the forwards, the backs eventually had the chance to have some good quality ball in wet conditions, and when Billy backed himself and tested his wits against his opposite number, he ran in a classic backs try under the post which was converted! So we suddenly found ourselves in position we haven’t been used to recently......we had a lead!

The next 5 or 10 minutes saw both sides have good periods of attacking play, but defences won out on every occasion, until Carlisle were award a penalty deep in the Penrith half! Ozzie on his return to the team took a quick tap penalty, and before Penrith had chance to react he was over the line for his first of his 3 tries for the afternoon.
As the half drew on, both teams played good rugby with high defensive lines testing the referee and the offside line on several occasions. It was Carlisle who continued to press higher & higher which forced Penrith to off load much quicker than we’d seen in previous encounters! However it was Penrith that ended the half on a high when a penalty was kicked into touch, and from the resulting line out, Penrith built a solid platform with their forwards to find space in the Carlisle defence right on half time.
Still it was Carlisle who went in at half time with the slenderous of leads 14-12!

Overall a good first half of rugby played in good spirits!

So with Carlisle defending the Warwick Road end of the pitch the boys were determined not to let Penrith cross the line again! And it was Carlisle who started the brighter of the two teams as they looked to build on the courage of the first half!

As the game continued it became clearer from the touch line that the lads were starting to believe! With Alfie skippering the side for the first time he did very well to contend with the more vocal members of his squad, and Coaches, but he was leading from the front as you’d expect, and with Will continuing to play on the edge the whole team started to think they could win the game! Whenever Penrith did look likely to brake the gain line, Carlisle somehow managed to get in a last ditch tackle, which was then added too by some very good tactical kicking from Ben and Freddie, which helped ease the pressure and clear the Carlisle lines!

Following a good period of continued pressure up front, Oz managed to squeeze over for his second try! Although it wasn’t all plain sailing in the second half, as Penrith continued to throw everything at Carlisle. The boys had to call on their reserves again, when the referee reduced us to 14 men after giving Will a 10 minute spell on the touch line! Although it was during this period when we saw the boys determination grow, and following a marauding run from Alfie and great support play from the forwards, it was a great one handed pass that set up Oz to attack the Penrith line from just inside their half, but it took another 2 or 3 phases from the forwards before the ball ended back in the back line, where Oz found the space in front of sticks for his third try of the day! Great team try to turn defence into attack!

That try signalled the return of Will on to the pitch, and with Ryan being a willing volunteer to tackle anything and everything, Carlisle started to grow in confidence.....something that we haven't seen much of this season! As the game edged towards the end, Carlisle continued in the same vain, with the forwards trying to dominate upfront and giving the backs some of the best quality ball they've had this season. It was a fitting end to the game when Alfie crashed over the line in the dying minutes, which capped off a very good days work for him!

35-12 it finished.A true credit to everyone involved, from 1 to 17 today. Everyone contributed to a great game of rugby against a very well organised and physical Penrith side, and we'd like to think both sets of supporters and coaches enjoyed a thoroughly entertaining game in trying conditions!

Ponteland this week and let's hope we can build on this performance......

Thanks
David & all the U15 Coaches