OPTIMISM was high in the Penrith camp following their narrow one point away defeat at Kendal the previous Saturday, but Kirkby soon beat that out of them.

With just four minutes on the clock Kirkby scored their first try after some slick handling allowed Lwazi Ngcungama to power over.

Penrith kicked into touch from the restart, allowing Kirkby to have the put in at a scrum, which they dominated and nearly scored from.

The hosts fought back and scored three points of their own after Kirkby were penalised for not rolling away quick enough.

Penrith did enjoy a few moments of territory and possession but Kirkby's tackling was equal to the task and hooker Matt Hoyland stole the ball inside the twenty two.

Kirkby hit back moving the ball fast right and into the hands of full back Harry Ralston whose pace and running skill took him round defenders, over the half way line and deep into the Penrith half.

Cover was closing-in but winger Martyn Knapton had run the inside channel and Ralston timed a pass to him which gave him the score to put Kirkby 3-10 in front.

With half an hour gone Penrith struck back, going over in the corner to make it 8-10.

But Kirkby reestablished their dominance as Ngcungama proved to be an unstoppable force near his opponents' try line.

This time Tom Pickthall converted to stretch Kirkby's lead to 8-17.

Penrith missed a kickable penalty but regained possession and field position from the Kirkby restart and although they did give it a go they could not find a way through.

Kirkby broke out and took play back into the Penrith half, several phases later the ball was moving down the line around ten metres out when stand-off Barton straightened and ran through tackles to score the fourth try.

The conversion took the score to 8 – 24 and the try secured the bonus point before half time.

Walker then proceeded to score a stunning individual try, covering some 70 yards, and the game was dead and buried before half time.

Late in the second half Penrith scored a try back but Kirkby reasserted their dominance by releasing David Bird down the flank.

He was stopped by a high tackle which prompted a yellow card for Penrith.

In what proved to be a drab second half, Penrith scored a converted try to make it 20-31 late on, but there was no catching Kirkby, who remained solid and scored a final penalty to end the game 20-34 winners.

That victory moves them to the top of the table where they will be hoping to stay after this week's epic local derby against Kendal.

Kirkby Team

1 Dan Armistead

2. Matt Hoyland

3. Pablo Kwiczor

4. Leandro Kwiczor

5. David Cooper-Dunn

6. Lwazi Ngcungama

7. Stuart Storey

8. Craig Galbraith

9. Ben Walker ( C )

10. David Barton

11. David Bird

12. Tom Pickthall

13. Jack Akrigg

14.

Martyn Knapton

15 Harry Ralston

Bench

16.

Chris Ramwell

17. Nick Edney

18. Jonas Thorsen