Driffield 1st XV make the long journey to the Lake District for their North One East fixture with Penrith.
This game was scheduled for the 09 December 2017. Driffield made the journey, only to have the referee call off the game due to a frozen pitch.
Last week Driffield got back on winning ways with a steady victory over bottom-placed Northern. Driffield applied the A game in the first 40 minutes, having the game won at half time, the second half steady. We let Northern score a couple which I’m sure frustrated Captain Mewburn.
Tomorrow’s game will be a big test of the squad. Penrith are still well in the hunt for a top two finish, currently sitting 4th in the league on 58 points, they have 2 games in hand on us, and 3 on Bridlington.
Penrith finished 2nd in the league last season, and just missed out on promotion after losing to Birkenhead Park in the play-off (29-21). They had been enjoying a great season, and were the early pace-setters – in fact they went unbeaten for the first 6 weeks, until they lost in heavy fashion at Malton in late October (50-24).
Last week Penrith beat Malton 20 – 8 at home. I’m told it was 3 – 3 at half time. The week before they won at Huddersfield 33 – 8. They are the leading points-scorers in the league at present.
Last year we drew in the same fixture, 24 a piece. They took the win at Kelleythorpe in dramatic fashion, a last-minute penalty handing them the points. A look through the records show to this point we have met 6 occasions : last year as just mentioned ; 2008/09 season in North 2 East, Penrith winning both games, 11-6 in Cumbria and 55-17 at Kelleythorpe. We first met in the 2005/06 North 2 East season, again Penrith won both fixtures ; 27-17 in Penrith and 17-12 at Driffield. Not good reading for us Driffield supporters with last season’s draw our only positive result. I’m sure Driffield will be looking to change this record tomorrow.
Driffield team to face Penrith RUFC
1 Waterhouse, 2 Ramsden, 3 Blenkinsop
4 Cooper, 5 Douglas
6 Dodds, 7 Cullen, 8 Burns
9 Gray, 10 Furbank
12 Dench, 13 Stephenson
11 Dinsdale, 14 Lawrence, 15 Piercy
16 Robinson, 17 Mewburn G, 18 Zavatti.
2nd team away @ Old Brodeians
3rd team away @ York Rugby
4th Team no game
all 6 Nations games will be shown at the club, with hot snacks on the go all afternoon. See you there.
JK