ST PETERS 18 PENARTH 12
PENARTH'S indifferent start to the season continued last Saturday against St Peters – and it’s hard to say when they’re going to snap out of it.
All those handling errors and line-out problems are still very much in evidence, only this week there were no classy tries to get them out of jail. The Rocks moved into an early lead when the ball went loose on the Seasiders’ 10 metre line. They moved out wide to wing Paul Davies who went over in the corner for an unconverted try as a result of poor covering by the Penarth defence.
However, the first time the visitors ventured into the St Peters’ half they were awarded a penalty for killing the ball and James Docherty duly converted to bring the score back to 5-3.
The game continued with neither side being able to complete movements either due to dropped passes or other infringements resulting in scrummages.
Penarth were more than holding their own in this department, but the Rocks were always putting them under pressure once the ball was out in the open. The trouble was that the home number 8 was causing all sorts of problems, both in open play and in the line-out. It became inevitable that something had to give and both the number 8 and James Roach, the Seasiders’ lock had an altercation with both being issued with yellow cards.
It was during this period that again St Peters were able to move the ball out wide, only this time to the left, having gained possession from a Penarth handling error.
The Rocks’ centre Luke Gaffney went over for the second try of the game and this, too, went unconverted.
The only thing standing between the Seasiders and oblivion was James Docherty, who again stepped up just before half time to bring them back to within one score by converting a penalty to make the score 13-6 to the hosts.
The second half continued in much the same vein, although Penarth had begun to play a bit and gained a clear advantage in terms of territory. St Peters now found themselves under some pressure, but their defence was able to hold out.
Chris Thorne was unlucky not to have scored following up a kick ahead, getting his hand to the ball but knocking on as he dived for the touchdown.
Again the referee awarded the Seasiders a consolation prize in the form of a penalty and Docherty closed the gap to 13-9. Visiting supporters could, at this stage, be forgiven for thinking that it would be possible to win this game, but a fresh outbreak of poor handling soon set the record straight.
Penarth, on gaining possession from a driving maul which gained 15 or so metres, moved the ball wide to the right but the final pass to the wing was too high, going directly in to touch with the line at their mercy.
Regrettably, the St Peters forwards gained possession from a scrum 10 metres from their own line and moved the ball smartly downfield, camping on the Penarth line for 5 minutes where their pack scored another try which once again went unconverted.
This made the score 18-9. One final penalty awarded to Penarth saw James Docherty make the final score 18-12.
This Saturday Penarth are at home against bottom club Fairwater RFC, kick off 2.30pm.
PENARTH: David Lerway, Lloyd Davey (Chris Thorne), Rhys Lakin, James Crothers, James Docherty, Owain George Richard Merrett, Bryn Adams, Gary Power, Darrol Hawden, James Roach, Marc Devine (Rob Pearce), Mike Clare (Elliot Smith), Geraint Blake.
OTHER RESULTS:
FAIRWATER 3-13 HEOL-Y-CYW
LLANDAFF 20-26 LLANDAFF NORTH
LLANISHEN 19-12 BRECON
PENTYRCH 13-12 ABERDARE
TYLORSTOWN 39-21 TREHERBERT