SANDAL 22 – PENRITH 34
Sandal’s long unbeaten home record fell to a Penrith side that made far fewer mistakes than the Milnthorpe Green men.
Sandal started the brighter and were only denied by good defending from the men from Cumbria, yet the visitors found themselves 21 nil up after 20 minutes and the game was effectively over. Three converted tries to Penrith all came from Sandal mistakes, the third being a penalty try awarded by the referee for an obstruction by the Sandal defender.
The home side continued to play some attractive rugby but were chasing a game way before half time against a far more experienced side who last season competed in North 1. Excellent line out ball was consistently won during the 80 minutes by James Riley but too many errors were made in the final third of the pitch. A long range drop goal from Penrith made the score 24 nil before Tom Smith hit back with a penalty for Sandal. Sandal were further hampered just before half time when experienced back row forward Lee Norris left the field with a head injury to be replaced by Jamie Heron.
The first score of the second half went to Sandal with tight head prop Rob Norbury forcing his way over from 2 metres out. The conversion was missed but at 24 –8 Sandal felt they were back in the game. Unfortunately the next two scores went to Penrith; a fourth converted try and a penalty made the score 34 – 8.
Sandal made a change at fly half with Greg Wood replacing Tom Smith. Sandal quickly scored a second try when young wing man Alex Orr crossed wide out. Orr was given very little space with about 15 metres to the line but beat two defenders for an excellent finish. The conversion was missed by Greg Wood but he succeeded with three good penalties as the game went on which made the final score 34 – 22 to the visitors.
The game was very frustrating for the home side. The pack dominated their opponents for long periods of the game but yet too many silly mistakes gifted scoring opportunities to a more experienced side.
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