The Penrith pitch was in perfect condition and looked conducive to a fast expansive game which is exactly what Bolton produced. For 30 minutes… and Penrith for the remaining 50!

Bolton started fantastically and were immediately heaping the pressure on the home side both in attack and defence with the official rewarding the work at the breakdown by the Bolton defenders with a number of penalties through which Bolton gained good territory. The opening score came from a Penrith mistake, after an over throw at the lineout was collected by captain Chris Cockton and quickly shipped out to James Singleton at fly-half. Singleton made the most of a deep Penrith defensive line and moved the ball wide through Mike Mills and eventually into the hands of Will Bate. Bate sucked in his defender and the winger allowing him to release Liam Ray down the left flank. Ray’s turn of pace saw him cross the whitewash but the attempted cover tackle from the full-back caused him to have to leave the field with concussion. Mike Richardson was brought on to cover the wing and Mike Mills was unable to add the extras. 5-0.

Despite the early change in the team, Bolton did not allow it to upset their rhythm and after a missed penalty from Penrith fly-half Pale Tuilagi they took their opportunity to add to their points tally. Will Bate made the initial break, once again down the left flank and put the Cherry & Whites on the front foot. Outstanding recycling from the forwards kept the pressure on a dog-legged home defence and eventually Ash Cooper managed to barge his way over from close range. This time Mills was able to convert the opportunity and at 12-0 Bolton were looking good.

Mills had a further chance to extend the lead from 40m out but missed the opportunity just before half time. Penrith were now starting to assert their authority and were punishing Bolton’s errors by gaining territory. A catch and drive provided them with their first real chance at a score, but outstanding try line defence from Bolton kept them at bay until half time.

At half time, Bolton knew that the job was far from over and that a backlash was imminent after a half that had shocked the home team. And that was just what happened in the second 40 minutes…

A knock on from the kick off gave Penrith the upper hand with a scrum inside the Bolton 22. The Bolton pack held strong, as they did all day, but a clean strike gave Penrith the quick front foot ball from which they thrived. After mounting several attacks on the Bolton try-line, Bolton eventually managed to turn the ball over but the hard work had taken its toll, a tired clearance kick did not make it in to touch and the home team winger made the most of a tiring defence to break two tackles and go over under the posts, making the conversion a formality. 12-7.

Penrith had now stepped up a gear and were showing Bolton why they had been at National 3 for several seasons with some quick and powerful running rugby. On top of that, they were punishing the errors that were now creeping in to Bolton’s play, with Tuilagi controlling the game from his boot with a number of perfectly placed kicks. The pressure told once more after a strong drive from the base of a scrum. The penrith scrum half jinked his way through before offloading to his supporting player for a simple score.

With the referee deciding to officiate the game in a different manner in the 2nd half Bolton found themselves on the end of some harsh decisions that had been going their way in the 1st half. Hands in the ruck gave Penrith the opportunity to extend their lead from which Tuilagi was only happy to oblige.

Penrith’s next score came from a break down the left wing that exposed some weak tackling for the winger to go in at the corner. With the home team on top and the bonus point try up for grabs Bolton were put under further pressure, first from a rolling maul at the lineout and then following some hard running in the centres. Mills and Bate held strong and forced the knock on from Penrith that was spotted by every man and his dog around the pitch other than the one that mattered, the ball was quickly swept up and dotted down over the line to secure the 5 points.

The final score from the game came following Bolton’s attempt to get back in the game. A quick lineout from Andy Crimmins to Mark Doherty was taken, but Doherty made a wrong decision to run with the ball and was soon closed down by the onrushing Penrith defence with Bolton players still back tracking behind the ball. The turnover gave the home team a clear run to the line to finish off the scoring and to put an end to Bolton’s dismal 2nd half performance.

On reflection there are a lot of positives to be taken away from the game, Bolton’s front row beat their counterparts on countless occasions in the scrum and our ability to score on the counter shone through in the 1st half. However, against a strong side like Penrith there can be no let up and Bolton have learnt a harsh lesson about playing for the full 80 minutes. Nick Holmes will look to work on what went wrong this weekend ahead of Saturdays home fixture against New Brighton.