Penny adds some welcome flair
I KNOW where James Lowes was coming from at the weekend.
But I can't say that I agree with him.
The Warrington caretaker - or coach in waiting, depending on your point of view - should have been doing cartwheels, or as close to them as retired hookers can manage, after his side stuck 60 points past Wakefield at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Instead, like any good Yorkshireman, Lowes managed to find something to complain about, namely teenage wingman Kevin Penny's 'showboating' as he completed his hat trick.
I wasn't there in deepest, darkest Cheshire, but apparently the flying flanker took the proverbial out of the Wakefield defence with a bit of slo-mo goose stepping.
Lowes reckoned that was "disrespectful" to the opposition, and he's probably right.
But in an increasingly sanitised game, where genuine on field characters seem to get fewer and further between with every year that goes by, I like to think of Penny's antics as a breath of fresh air.
The player is clearly blessed with prodigious speed and the arrogance and confidence to use it.
If he thinks he really is that good, then it is up to him how he scores his tries.
It may not endear him to opponents, coaches or spectators, but that is his risk to take.
And if he chooses to ignore Jimmy's carefully chosen words of advice - and I can't think of many people that brave or foolish - then he should be aware that no one will have much sympathy for him on the days when it all goes wrong.
Because these things do have a habit of coming back to you.
Anyone else remember Fax's Asa Amone taunting a Bradford player - Danny Peacock, from memory - as he ran away to score at Thrum Hall in the late 1990s?
It was funny at the time, as Fax were cruising at 24-0.
It seemed less amusing by full time, with the Bulls storming back from the dead to snatch the win.
Amone no doubt felt a bit of a prat afterwards.
Perhaps someone should send Penny a copy of that particular match video?
SUNDAY'S Northern Rail Cup decider between Doncaster and Salford will go down in the record books as one of the least memorable finals of all time.
It always looked like being a mismatch, despite the Rugby Football League's best attempts to talk things up, and in the end it proved to be exactly that, with the Reds racking up 60 points.
There is a massive gap between the top of National League Two and the summit of National League One, and even Ellery Hanley's famous aura of invincibility wasn't going to be enough to bridge it.
The NRC has plenty of problems already - the group stages have become increasingly stagnant over the last two years - but Sunday's farce emphasises the need for some kind of seeding in the knockout stages.
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Last Updated:
10 July 2008 8:44 AM
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Location:
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