PENARTH 28 TYLORSTOWN 17
AFTER a first hour marked out by little apart from a master class on the referee’s whistle, Penarth tore up the script and firmly announced their promotion credentials with a glittering hat-trick of tries.
Starting with the wind at their backs, the Seasiders must have fancied themselves building up a substantial lead, as they dominated territory and possession.
However, a string of penalties failed to yield the expected scores as the home line-out misfired badly, letting Tylorstown off the hook to a certain extent.
Luckily outside half James Docherty had brought his kicking boots along and three penalties allowed the hosts to turn round 6 points ahead, but still looking for a way to get the back division moving.
The second half provided continuity of a sort, but the visitors proved adept at grabbing fleeting chances as a couple of penalties and a punch-up found them with ball in hand in the Penarth 22 for possibly the first time.
The Tylorstown inside centre tapped the next penalty and drove over before the defence had got themselves organised.
This was getting serious, as even though the Seasiders were only a point adrift and looking for another Docherty penalty, the future appeared a bit grim as if they didn’t know where the next try was coming from.
We needn’t have worried.
That man Docherty had a few ideas as to how to unlock a very effective Tylorstown defence and hoisted a towering garryowen towards the visitor’s 10 metre line.
It looked a bit short to start with, but Rhys Lakin soon demonstrated it was perfectly judged as he rose to take it under pressure and a neat side-step on landing put him clear of the first line of defence as he cruised away to score under the posts.
The dust had barely settled when the hosts claimed the restart and Owain George, following up, expertly charged down the returning clearance and strolled over for the second try within a minute.
The wind was definitely in their sails now, but the handling errors that had plagued the back division on the odd occasion they laid hands on the ball earlier, now returned to haunt them.
With only 3 tries now required for a bonus point, the incentive was surely there to complete the job, but instead it was Tylorstown who briefly put up a case for a bonus point, only for Docherty to snuff out the threat with a spectacular full-stretch ankle-tap which up-ended their troublesome inside-centre as he ran clear. The closing moves of a dramatic final quarter were played out entirely to the Seasiders’ satisfaction as Lee Bevan drove deep into the visitors’ 22 and was tackled just short of the line. The forwards mauled it over, but the referee called them back for a five-metre scrum.
Ball worked quickly left for full-back David Lerway to enter the line at pace and show the defence a clean pair of heels as he ran behind the posts.
A last-minute second try for the visitors’ number 8 made little difference to the outcome and Penarth travel across Cardiff next Saturday to visit St Peters, 36-3 winners at Heol-y-Cyw last time out.
Penarth: David Lerway, Lloyd Davey (Chris Thorne), Rhys Lakin, Lee Bevan, James Crothers, James Docherty, Owain George, Richard Merrett, Rhys Blake, David Morgan (Carwyn Griffiths), James Roach, Darroll Hawden (Jason Allen), Marc Devine, Mike Clare, Geraint Blake.
OTHER RESULTS:
ABERDARE 40-10 FAIRWATER
BRECON 46-5 LLANDAFF
LLANDAFF NORTH 17-20 PENTYRCH
LLANISHEN 23-7 TREHERBERT
HEOL-Y-CYW 3-36 ST.PETERS