Wednesday 8 May 2013 – Penarth 17 Fairwater 10

After Fairwater had led through an early penalty, the next half hour was uneventful, Penarth gaining the majority of territory against a gusting wind but failing to translate this into points.

Then, in time added for stoppages James Beaton was carded for an arguable entry on the wrong side and Fairwater won the scrum from the penalty and sent their winger over. The conversion was followed by the half time whistle, leaving the score at Penarth 0 Fairwater 10.

Penarth didn’t put up with this for long and used the wind to prod the ball into the 22. Fairwater used illegal tactics in defence to concede four successive penalties. The ensuing lines out were thrown short to Aaron Ellis twice and then a couple of times to the returned Beaton until the pressure was irresistible with Gary Power driven over and Mike Hurley converting.

Penarth sustained the pressure, while Fairwater earned their own yellow card and as usual tried mixing it. Intimidation doesn’t work with this Penarth front eight so the next score was a Penarth penalty.

The move of the match showed what constant pressure can do. Fairwater had enjoyed a brief dwell on the home line until Hurley belted a relieving kick downfield only for the Fairwater receiver to wilt under the threat of the oncoming home back division and put in a horribly skewed kick which was gratefully collected and spun out to James Crothers who squeezed in at the corner. Hurley hit a marvellous touch-line conversion.

Saturday 11 May 2013 – Tonyrefail 20 Penarth 56

This was champagne rugby from the Seasiders, at least for the first ten and the last twenty-five minutes! With a howling gale ripping straight up the valley at Tylcha Fawr, the team taking first use of the wind was expected to thrive. Penarth certainly lived up to this promise with an early try from Stuart Clark following a break by Richard Merrett and then after ten minutes James Beaton finished off a period of pressure in characteristic fashion.

Trailing by twelve points, Tonyrefail might have folded, but came back in storming fashion with an opening try from outside half A Pugsley and a second from wing O Lewis on the stroke of half-time following a stylish break from centre L Williams. Luckily, Mike Hurley had also slotted over a couple of penalties to keep the Seasiders in front 18-10.

With the hosts turning round with a still-mighty wind at their backs, a Penarth win really didn’t look at all likely, but that was because no-one was to know that the visitors were going to overcome the odds and run in another five tries in the second half.

An exchange of penalties was all that resulted from the first fifteen minutes’ play, but the evidence was already there that Tonyrefail weren’t going to have any more luck than the Seasiders in harnessing the elements. Then the roof suddenly fell in on the home side and the game was over as a contest.

Keeping the ball in hand, the Penarth pack worked it up-field and Richard Merrett went over for his side’s third try and six minutes later, a rather surprised-looking Matt Sutton took a pass outside the home 22 and romped home to score. Having secured the bonus point, the pressure was unrelenting and Beaton broke clear for his second and the Seasiders’ fifth.

At this point, the home side’s classy inside centre L Williams grabbed his own moment in the spotlight with a fine individual try, but with the score on 20-42 with only 14 minutes remaining, this was very much a consolation.

The Seasiders finished in commanding fashion, with Mike Hurley topping off an assured display at outside centre, adding a couple of late tries to 21 points from the boot to end up with a personal haul of 31 points.

PENARTH Dan Rees (Nathan Smith), Henry Mitchell (Louis Chandler), Mike Hurley, Mike Rowe, James Crothers , James Candy , Gareth Clancy, Richard Merrett, Joe Page, Gary Power, Richard Ball (Sean O’Sullivan), Stuart Clark (Jerome Bryan), James Beaton, Mike Clare, Matt Sutton.

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The Seasiders came as close as they possibly could to losing a game they should have won with ease, but we shouldn’t really complain as the finally rose above the 10^th place in Division 3 SE that they seem to have been stuck in since about October.

Since Porth were one of the teams they threatened to leap-frog, the visitors put everything into exploiting a stiff breeze in the first half and got off to a flying start. Lock Adam Eggar found himself on the end of a huge overlap to score in the corner.

Penarth fought back effectively, but had no answer after 14 minutes when Porth outside-half Gregg Morris tapped a penalty and put in a cross-kick for left wing Adam Cameron to score in the opposite corner.  Neither of these tries was converted, which was to give the visitors cause for regret as the drama unfolded.

Despite facing into the strong wind, the Seasiders were beginning to put some moves together and Mike Hurley drove a penalty into the Porth 22. A simple catch-and-drive from the line-out failed to yield a score as the ball-carrier was turned over the line, but the next line-out was far more profitable. Richard Merrett peeled off and charged for the line, Richard Ball following up to dive over the ruck to score.

Although Penarth were to dominate the remainder of the half, they still needed to negotiate some scares and it took a good tackle from left wing Dan Rees to stop right wing Anthony James from extending his side’s lead.

Now the Seasiders launched a hug pick-and-drive adventure as Porth replied with high tackles and after making 50 metres, there was a slight pause for the award of a yellow card to a ludicrously offside defending prop before the line-out manoeuvre yielded a second try just before half-time. This time James Beaton took the clean catch, again Merrett peeled and Aaron Ellis took his turn to pick up and stretch to the line for the score.

Turning round with their backs to the wind in the second half, it was realistic to expect Penarth to bulldoze the visitors with their all-round superiority up front and when Gary Power was mauled over from 10 metres after only four minutes for a 19-10 lead, the game was only going one way.

However, some adverse decisions somehow allowed Porth into the home 22 and they were once again pretty clinical once they’d got field position – scrum-half Dafydd Morris going over in the corner for a try that was, this time, converted.

That was the story of the game in a nutshell. Mike Hurley had neatly converted the Seasiders’ first two tries, the home side led 19-17 with twenty minutes to go and that proved to be the final score.

Time to stuff it up the jumper, you’d have thought, but Penarth had ambitions involving a bonus point, while Porth could see only too clearly that a fourth try would do the same for them. Cue game break-up, attack and counter-attack, scares and alarms.

The main strike runner for the visitors was full-back Chris Cutter. Stopped just short of the line on one occasion, he was back within minutes and over on the end of a forward pass. The Seasiders were pinned back in their own 22 and as Cutter ran back a clearance from half-way, stand-in wing Adan Cole felled him with a superb tackle and the game was safe.

The Seasiders’ final games of this campaign are now scheduled for after the bank holiday, Fairwater being  the visitors on Wednesday 8^th May in a game at Cwrt-y-Vil, while curtain comes down after the rearranged fixture away at Tonyrefail on Saturday 11^th May.

PENARTH        Rhys Morgan, Dan Rees, Ben Donovan, Mike Rowe, Adan Cole, Mike Hurley, Chris Mortimer (Gareth Clancy), Richard Merrett, Joe Page, Gary Power (Sean O’Sullivan), Richard Ball, James Beaton, Aaron Ellis, Elliott Smith, Matt Sutton.

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The Aberdare side arrived with the news that it’d have to be passive scrums due to injuries and no replacements for their front row. This was evidently going to cause a few problems as we knew from experience that their outside-half Steve Roberts was very good kicking the ball out of hand.

Straight from the kick-off the ball went loose to the visitors, who elected to kick ahead. The ball landed infield near the touchline close to the 22, bouncing up for Aberdare left wing Ceirion Griffiths to out-jump Rhys Morgan and win the race for a touchdown for a 0–5 lead. It took Penarth 15 minutes to get on to the scoreboard, but Ben Donovan finished off a ¾ movement to score a try which was converted by Mike Hurley. A similar move some 8 minutes later saw James Crothers claim a score which was once again converted by Mike Hurley to put the Seasiders 14-5 in the lead .

Aberdare fought back immediately to claim another score when centre Chris Shellard broke through the defence before passing on to left wing Ceiron Griffiths for his 2nd try, but he scoring wasn’t over yet as Mike Hurley made a good break to score under the posts ,converting his try to make the half time score 21–12 to the home side.

From the restart Aberdare applied pressure to the Penarth line and their number 8 Dan Shaw pulled another try back, converted by Steve Roberts, bring the visitors back to within two points. A mix-up in the Penarth defence then allowed Aberdare’s right wing Lewis Moore to put his side into a 21-24 lead with a try that went unconverted with about 15 minutes of play to go. The Penarth forwards put in some good work, gaining possession in their own half, then a kick ahead eluded the whole Aberdare back division and a chase for the line saw Henry Mitchell get his hand to the ball to claim the try. Mike Hurley again converted to make the final score Penarth 28 points Aberdare 24. The four tries scored by both sides yielded a flood of bonus points and the win was secured thanks Mike Hurley’s 100% record with the conversions.

PENARTH Rhys Morgan, Henry Mitchell, Ben Donovan, Mike Rowe, Mike Hurley, Chris Mortimer, Richard Merrett, Joe Page, Sean O’Sullivan, Richard Ball, James Beaton, Scott Mackie, Aaron Ellis, Matt Sutton .

League Division 3 South-East
Saturday 27th April 2013
PENARTH v Porth Harlequins
The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road
Kick-off 2.30pm

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For the first time since the turn of the year, the Seasiders failed to make much of an impression on a game where promotion-chasing St Peters always had a slight edge. That this margin resulted in six tries to nil was a bit of a puzzle, but the fact is the Rocks simply took their chances when they had them.
Having said that, St Peters had one real star and it was left wing Arturs Kozels who opened the scoring after only three minutes. The game settled down to an even contest for the next twenty minutes, with both sides losing a player to the bin before Kozels again found himself in possession outside the twenty-two and shimmied powerfully through the a well-placed defence to score again.

The Seasiders gave as good as they got until just before half-time, when combative outside-half Dan French cut through a number of tacklers to score his side’s third. The bonus point arrived straight after half-time when scrum half Lewes Dawes tapped a quick penalty and found outside centre Jon Morris on hand to score in the corner.

The Seasiders had their moments, nowhere more so than when Mike Rowe threw a loose pass which Kyle Foat intercepted running 80 metres with Ben Donovan in hot pursuit before the Penarth centre finally got his man with an ankle-tap 5 metres short of the line.
It took just the one missed tackle to let captain Josh Dunleavy through for his side’s fifth try after 55 minutes, before Kozels broke five tackles down the left flank on the hour for the sixth and final try.

PENARTH Rhys Morgan, Henry Mitchell, Ben Donovan, Mike Rowe, James Crothers, Mike Hurley, Gareth Clancy, Gary Power, Joe Page, Sean O’Sullivan, Richard Ball, James Beaton, Elliott Smith (Mike Clare), Adan Cole, Matt Sutton (Owain George)

League Division 3 South-East
Saturday 20th April 2013
PENARTH v Aberdare
The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road
Kick-off 2.30pm

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The Seasiders dominated a close game up at Parc de Pugh in poor conditions, but ultimately lacked the guile to turn possession into points and lost a game they should have won.  A low-scoring game started with a flurry of points as the teams exchanged penalties for a 3-3 score after five minutes.

The absence of further scores in the following twenty minutes wasn’t for the want of trying and as Ben Donovan ran on to a smart garryowen from Mike Hurley, it looked very much as if Henry Mitchell was going to squeeze in at the corner, only for the wing to be tackled into touch.

However, as Brecon moved it upfield, referee Matthew J Thomas flourished the first of what would turn out to be a fistful of cards to dismiss Chris Mortimer for ten minutes and scrum-half Dan Edwards charged down a Rhys Morgan clearance to score the game’s only try.

Now the cards started to be waved in the direction of the hosts and as openside Osian Davies followed outside half Gari Davies on to the bench, Ben Donovan was forced into touch just short of the line in the opposite corner. Having tried the open game, Penarth moved smoothly into Plan B and drove a line-out over the line, only for the referee to find himself badly placed and declaring ‘held up’.

As the second half opened, the Seasiders simply repeated the dose, but again the referee failed to position himself correctly and declined to award the score. Although Penarth laid siege at this point, the hosts’ impressive line speed allowed them to tackle the ball-carrier some way behind the gain line on a regular basis and Plan C never quite materialised.

Now Scott Mackie followed his back-row colleague on to the bench and although a seven-man pack was able to keep their try-line intact, Brecon nevertheless completed the scoring with a brace of penalties.

With more than twenty minutes remaining, the Seasiders took the game to Brecon and another Ben Donovan burst as the centre came in at a devastating angle was only stopped by a finely-judged ankle tap and although they ended up with an attacking line-out, the throw was adjudged not straight.

A fourth Donovan break looked as if it would reap some reward with only eight minutes left, but Brecon scrum-half Dan Edwards found himself in receipt of the fifth yellow card of the afternoon in a game bereft of niggle and involving no violent intent throughout.

Still Penarth laid lengthy siege and yet they could find no way through an aggressive Brecon defence that strangely managed to avoid straying offside when it mattered. The stage was set for a last-minute break-out by the hosts and although Gary Power skilfully snuffed out the threat covering back, the final say went to Mr Thomas, who decided that James Crothers was deserving of a straight red card.

PENARTH        Rhys Morgan, Henry Mitchell, Ben Donovan, Mike Rowe , James Crothers, Mike Hurley, Gareth Clancy (Adan Cole), Richard Merrett, Joe Page (Sean O’Sullivan), Gary Power, Richard Ball, James Beaton, Chris Mortimer, Scot Mackie, Matt Sutton

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Having lost two successive matches for the first time this year, this’ll take a little explaining, but stay with us – this was the Seasiders’ most compelling performance this season. To start with, Dowlais had started the day leading the division by seven clear points having won 15 and lost only one of their games.

They hadn’t lost a league game since September, amassing ten try bonus points in the process. This was a team seriously on a roll. Yes, they’re pretty good and Penarth came within a whisker of recording a bonus-point win against them last Saturday.

The visitors were happy to set their stall out from the outset and the approach never varied. They were going to hit the Seasiders’ ball-carriers early and hard and then swarm all over the breakdown while when they were in possession themselves, the only difference was that they had a quite tidy short-passing game to add to all that physicality.

Which is why it was such a delight after only six keenly-contested minutes to watch flanker Chris Mortimer displaying a scrum-half’s eye for the main chance cutting around the fringe and through a gap to score from 25 metres. Dowlais struck back almost immediately as a tapped penalty was used to put centre Bleddyn Rees clean though on twelve minutes.

As a result of the penalty derived from visiting scrum-half Darryl Jenkins seeing yellow for a tip-tackle on Joe Page, the hooker was on the end of a smoothly-accelerated catch-and-drive and Penarth re-took the lead in commanding fashion.

The one advantage the visitors held on to at this stage was that the Seasiders were playing into the wind and the sun. A fluffed reception of the restart led to a Dowlais penalty and although they knocked-on from the line-out, they nevertheless won the ensuing scrum against the head and built slowly to a good finish in the opposite corner for lock Jonathan Davies, levelling the scores at 12-12.

At this stage, you began to wonder whether the visitors’ assumed superiority was about to tell as they began to work players into space and Rees squeezed through a gap to register his second try. However, Penarth are made of sterner stuff these days and minutes before half time they had conjured up one of the tries of the season. The pack set off on an irresistible pick-and-drive from somewhere near their own 10 metre line, with Elliott Smith running clear into the Dowlais twenty-two supported by Joe Page who fed James Beaton arriving at pace to score in the corner.

With Gareth Clancy having been awarded a yellow card in the dying seconds of the first half, the Seasiders had ten minutes to hold the score at 17-17 with 14 men, but some weak tackling allowed elusive winger James Kelly to go over under the posts on 45 minutes and the only penalty conversion attempted all afternoon allowed the visitors to extend their lead to ten points.

The rest of the game was firmly controlled by Penarth and with average luck, they’d have claimed a famous win, but it didn’t quite turn out that way. A superb Ben Donovan kick-through and follow-up forced a Dowlais knock-on and although Richard Ball was in support to pick up and run for the line, the referee played no advantage and the chance was lost. Two minutes later, the Seasiders had driven a scrum clean over the line, but the referee wasn’t happy with that either, so the visitors escaped once again.

This only brought on another superb try from the Seasiders to set up a frantic finish. Gareth Clancy began the move in his own half and Rhys Morgan, entering the line from full-back, burst into the Dowlais twenty-two, drawing the full-back to put James Crothers in at the corner.

With seven minutes remaining, a victory was still on the cards. While Penarth had all the possession they needed and Dowlais were out on their feet, the visitors nevertheless held out and their relief was palpable when the referee signalled the last play and they were able to kick the ball dead.

PENARTH Rhys Morgan, Henry Mitchell, Mike Hurley, Mike Rowe (Ben Donovan), James Crothers, James Candy, Gareth Clancy, Richard Merrett, Joe Page, Gary Power (Sean O’Sullivan), Richard Ball, James Beaton, Chris Mortimer (Adan Cole), Elliott Smith, Matt Sutton (Marc Devine)

Next fixtures:
League Division 3 South-East
Saturday 13th April 2013
Brecon v PENARTH
Parc de Pugh, The Watton
Kick-off 2.30pm

League Division 3 South-East
Wednesday 17th April 2013
St Peters v PENARTH
Harlequins Playing Field, Minster Rd, Roath
Kick-off 7.15pm

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WHEN a team takes to the park with only 14 men and no replacements against a top-ofthe- table side on their own patch, the outcome is entirely predictable; and so it was with Penarth Rugby Club on Saturday.

An extensive list of players unavailable meant that the 14 dependables included a flanker in the second row, two scrum halves at flanker, a coach at No 8, his co-coach at outside half, a wing in the centre and no left wing at all.

With this stack of disadvantages, the faithful few may have been excused for just going through the motions.

Far from it; such was the effort and enterprise from this makeshift crew that one of the two leading sides in the division threw everything at them and failed totally to break their defence for over a half hour.

More impressively, when the break came, it was not the home side but Penarth who crossed the line. The conditions were chilly but otherwise excellent and Pontyclun set about the business of demonstrating their skills which are not inconsiderable.

The tackling of the visitors, however, was well up to the challenge and the James’s, Crothers and Candy, mowed down attempts to exploit gaps, with Rhys Morgan mopping up anyone who broke through the first line.

Up front the picture was the same, with Richard Merrett and Joe Page gobbling up ball and ball carrier with glee.

A most useful further tactic was the relieving kick which Paul Williams applied, showing the merit of a wise head in recovering territory under pressure.

It was not simply defence.

Once Penarth has settled into a rhythm and shape, they discovered that the home side were vulnerable to the pick and drive. With Richard Ball delivering consistent line out possession, the pack were able to do some effective trundling up the park. This presented comfortable ball for Gareth Clancy to release the backs so that Henry Mitchell wide out was all but through before last-ditch defence prevented the score.

This inspired confidence and, from another clean line out take by Ball, a maul was set up and Pontyclun were forced into infringing.

Penarth ignored the kicking option and opted for a repeat dose; Ball duly obliged securing the line out and such was the combined pressure from the front eight that Pontyclun could not resist. So, on 31 minutes and against all the odds, the Penarth 14 took a 5–0 lead.

The spectre of an ignominious home defeat spurred the home side to an all out effort.

Despite sterling efforts in the Penarth defence they could not halt a mazy run from Ben Davies at scrum half. Then, just on the stroke of half time, there was a second home try followed by a penalty.

Despite total commitment Penarth went in 24-5 down at half time.

The story of the second half did include the inevitable consequences for a side tiring with the effort of covering for a missing player. Gaps were bound to open up as Pontyclun opted more for the running and handling game. Thus there were further tries by the home scrum half Davies again, wing Davies and centre McTaggart.

But, to their great credit, Penarth never gave up and telling short breaks from Chris Mortimer, Rhys Morgan and Owain George gained valuable territory. Ball continued his 100% record in the line out and the whole pack showed admirable patience and application putting the ball through phase after phase, with Merrett being the man in possession when the line became close enough for the referee to award them a further five points.

Pontyclun rounded off the day with further tries but this should in no way detract from the wholehearted endeavour shown by Penarth.

Yes, the defeat was conclusive, but in the circumstances every man in a Penarth shirt can be proud.

Avoiding the points penalty of failing to fulfil a fixture is a tangible reward necessary in consolidating the club’s position above the relegation zone.

Next Saturday is a mouthwatering home fixture against the other leading club, Dowlais. It promises to be a cracker.

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The gap between the two teams in the latest Ely Valley derby was actually 13 points as they kicked off on a wonderfully sunny afternoon, but this seemed to have narrowed dramatically after only two minutes. Lock Jon Boland was dismissed with a red card for his part in a ruck in the home 22, so Penarth had 78 minutes to work out how to handle this.

To say that they managed four tries for the bonus-point win that raised them above tenth in the table for the first time since mid-October suggests they did rather well. Of course they had to make it even more of a challenge by falling behind to a penalty from Tonyrefail’s main man, captain and number 8 Richard Baker after 10 minutes and it took them some time to work out they couldn’t quite manage with only seven in the scrum.

In fact, they were 17 minutes on the clock before the Seasiders hauled themselves into the lead. Having won solid field position after good work by forwards and backs, they were just starting to have a little difficulty breaking down a determined Ton defence when they worked the ball out to Rhys Morgan, who dummied inside to score.

Then, as they say, nothing much happened for about twenty minutes and as it began to look as if Penarth would have to make do with a 5-3 lead after 40- minutes, the visitors’ defence gave way as the ball was kicked away from a ruck near the line, which resulted in a yellow card and a line-out drive which ended in a Joe Page try.

All the early pressure in the second half was coming from the Seasiders, so with James Beaton moving up to the second row and Jimmy Crothers packing down on the blindside flank, they casually drove a scrum to the line as the Tonyrefail front row popped up. The referee had no hesitation in going under the posts to declare a penalty try. All credit to the forwards – that was the third one this season.

Penarth were running it from everywhere now and a storming burst from James Beaton didn’t get the reward it deserved as he misjudged the pass inside to the supporting Gareth Clancy and the visitors escaped further punishment. Worse than that, they began to look a bit lively and a short siege yielded a try for Baker in the corner, which he converted from touch.

The Seasiders weren’t going to take this lying down and as Clancy ran clear, he was supported by replacement Adan Cole, who set Mike Hurley up for a 20m dash to the line. The centre was caught just short, but the fast-arriving Dan Hofmann was unstoppable as he picked up and drove over.

Even with the bonus point in the bag and the score on a comfortable-looking 24-10, there was still time for Tonyrefail to make a point by driving through a single missed tackle as Baker scored in the corner and it was a relief when he missed the conversion to leave Penarth nine points in the lead instead of seven. A late Nathan Smith penalty sealed the win and scrum-half Ryan Thompson just had time to put in an appearance.

PENARTH Rhys Morgan, Henry Mitchell, Ben Donovan, Mike Rowe (Mike Hurley), James Crothers, Nathan Smith, Gareth Clancy (Ryan Thompson), Richard Merrett, Joe Page (Gary Power), Sean O’Sullivan, Jon Boland, Dan Hofmann, James Beaton, Elliott Smith, Scott Mackie (Adan Cole).

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Pentyrch arrived at an arctic Athletic Field last Friday on the end of a six-match unbeaten run in the league dating back to the middle of October that had seen them rise to sixth in the Division 3 (SE) table. Given that 13 points separated them from the lowly Seasiders, they had designs on overtaking Brecon and rising to fifth.

They clearly hadn’t done their homework on Penarth.

With a stiff north-easterly wind howling down the ground, it was imperative for the Seasiders, given first use, to make the most of the advantage.

They started with a vigorous pick-and-drive game and caused all sorts of trouble in the Pentyrch 22 and despite successive driven lines-out , Aaron Ellis held up at the line and a fine steal on the visitors’ throw by Scot Mackie, the ball was cleared upfield. James Crothers fielded and ran it back, but James Candy was caught by two offside defenders and slotted over the penalty for a 3-0 lead after sixteen minutes.

The whole game was now being played out in the Pentyrch 22 and they could only dream of reaching the half-way line. Penarth piled on the pressure as they drove maul after maul towards the visitors’ line and it was only a matter of time before the pressure told.

On the half-hour, yet another catch-and-drive was held by Pentrych at first, but Aaron Ellis proved irresistible as the second drive went in he crossed for his seventh try of the season with Candy adding the extras. The visitors were demonstrating their quality by keeping the score down and as half-time approached two scores really didn’t look as if they’d be anywhere near enough as they turned to face the wind.

We needn’t have worried. For all that Pentrych roared predictably out of the blocks with the wind at their backs, the Seasiders tackled them to a standstill and the visitors simply never looked as if they were going to score, let alone claw back the ten-point deficit. Even when James Beaton received the latest in string of puzzling yellow cards with half an hour still to play, Penarth were slugging it out in the Pentyrch half and if any side was going to score it was the rampant hosts.

Despite excellent work by David Jenkins and James Candy, with Ben Donovan always looking likely to break free, no further score ensued. However, the point had been quite adequately made and a full-strength Penarth side should fear no-one in this division now.

They now lead Tonyrefail, their closest rivals in the race to avoid relegation, by 13 fully points and still have a match in hand. Even better, no fewer than two of their remaining nine games are against the Ely valley club, starting this coming Saturday at the Athletic Field. The dizzy heights of a mid-table finish surely beckon.

PENARTH Rhys Morgan, Henry Mitchell, Ben Donovan, David Jenkins, James Crothers, James Candy, Chris Mortimer (Gareth Clancy), Richard Merrett, Joe Page (Gary Power), Sean O’Sullivan, James Beaton, Jon Boland, Scott Mackie, Aaron Ellis (Dan Hofmann), Elliott Smith.
League Division 3 South-East
Saturday 2nd March 2013
PENARTH v Tonyrefail
The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road
Kick-off 2.30pm

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Despite another lengthy lay-off, Penarth continued their recent fine away form with a compelling display at the head of Ogmore Vale against bottom club Nantymoel. The result was hardly a foregone conclusion, as the home back division proved to be an accomplished outfit who could have done some real damage if the visitors’ defence hadn’t been as effective as it was.

That and the fact that the Seasiders’ pack had picked up where they left off against Cardiff Quins five weeks earlier and simply steam-rollered a handy-looking Nantymoel eight.

Making a steady start, the Seasiders went ahead with a penalty from James Candy after only eight minutes, but failed to maintain any sort of momentum as the hosts’ back division came back smartly. A break down the right wing and a chip ahead gave them field position and a penalty, but the outside half’s kick was adjudged touch-in-goal. The 22 drop-out was charged down and a neat passing move saw the full-back entering the line to touch down in the corner.

Penarth continued to dominate, but fell foul of referee Mike Davies’ insistence on releasing the ball in the tackle, taking another twenty minutes to regain the lead with Aaron Ellis’s sixth try of the season.

The first half ended with two events that would mould the outcome as the second half progressed. First Ellis came powerfully off the back of an attacking scrum and fed Chris Mortimer who scored spectacularly in the corner. Then, on the stroke of half-time, as Nantymoel fought to get back into the game, Adan Cole received a yellow card that was a surprise to him and the travelling support.

The Seasiders therefore began the second half leading 13-5, but down to fourteen men. The home side had worked out that this was their best chance to recapture the initiative and rapidly notched up two penalties to close the gap to two points.

A early as the 50th minute, this was pretty well their last throw of the dice as the Penarth pack, reinforced by the returning Cole, simply went up a gear and took over. Two minutes later, a catch-and-drive from a line out actually accelerated as it approached the try-line, but the referee didn’t wait to see how this would turn out and went between the posts to award a penalty try.

Nantymoel pulled back one last penalty, but they had never looked as if they’d breech the Seasiders’ defence since the opening skirmishes and the Penarth eight ground out another try as Mortimer claimed his second try on the hour. With the score a more comfortable 13-27, Penarth emptied the bench as Nantymoel let their backs take the initiative.
This might have brought some reward if they’d done it earlier, but the Seasiders’ defence held firm and there was time for another rumble at the far end and as the ball was released t the backs, replacement centre Mike Rowe feinted to pass outside, but cut inside to score.

With Penarth now sitting nine points above the relegation zone with two games in hand, they can look forward to calmer times ahead, but could really do with another couple of wins from their ten remaining games. That two of these will be against their nearest rivals Tonyrefail should concentrate the mind wonderfully.

The next league game is a rearranged fixture against Pentyrch this coming Friday at the Athletic Field, kick-off 7.15pm.

PENARTH Rhys Morgan, Henry Mitchell, Ben Donovan, David Jenkins (Mike Rowe), James Crothers, James Candy, Chris Mortimer (Gareth Clancy), Richard Merrett, Joe Page, Sean O’Sullivan, James Beaton, Jon Boland, Adan Cole, Aaron Ellis, Matt Sutton (Dan Hoffman).

League Division 3 South-East
Friday 22nd February 2013
PENARTH v Pentyrch
The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road
Kick-off 7.15pm

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