NINE-TRY SEASIDERS HIT THE TOP
Penarth 61 Treherbert 5
The Seasiders finally hit the top of Division 3 (SE) as they demolished a below-strength Treherbert on a day when all but one of the other fixtures were postponed. While never a compelling display of team-work, all the individual star performers were wearing Penarth shirts.
The opening burst by the home pack was nothing short of ferocious and an early line-out was driven to the line. The visitors were able to keep the first drive out, but the second, led by Marc Devine, yielded a try for the flanker which Chris Poole converted.
Treherbert came back strongly, but missed a couple of penalties and were hustled back into their own half with huge drives by Devine and Aaron Ellis. On the half hour it was the burly number eight who, tackled on the line, twisted over to score.
Penarth were starting to hit their stride, so the next score was as much a surprise to Treherbert as it was to anyone. Chris Roberts launched an attack from within his own 22 and sent a raking cross-kick for Chris Poole to run on to, but the ball scraped his finger-tips and fell into the hands of alert visiting outside-half Richard Harris who outpaced the cover to score.
That was about as good as it was ever going to get for Treherbert, although the Seasiders were struggling a little for continuity and limited themselves to a further Gary Power try to lead 19-5 at half time.
Things didn’t look good for the hosts at the beginning of the second half as Treherbert failed to replace a prop and brought on uncontested scrums. Penarth still hadn’t sorted out their problems at the breakdown either, so individual brilliance was going to have to suffice.
The process started with a breathtaking break by Geraint Blake which left Chris Roberts with only two tackles to break on the way to scoring under the posts. The busy flanker also set up the next score, stealing opposition ball on the deck and setting off Chris Poole on a jinking run to the line where he slipped a scoring pass to Gary Power for his second try of the afternoon.
Treherbert were fighting all the way, but they were clearly way outclassed as the Seasiders began to run riot. Rhys Lakin suddenly burst on to the scene after a quiet game at outside half, sending up a superb cross-kick for James Crothers to chase. The wing got his toe to the ball before the covering full-back and Chris Roberts took full advantage to gallop around the posts for his second.
Penarth were in serious danger of running away with it now as Trevor and Gary Power were both held up at the line. Richard Merrett clearly got over, but the referee was way behind play and preferred to award the penalty he had seen. James Crothers scored his side’s seventh as he rolled through two tackles and immediately retired injured to be replaced by Mike Clare.
The closing minutes belonged to the Roberts brothers as Chris burst out of his own 22 and fed Steve on half-way and the centre had no trouble beating defence from there. Then Chris produced his party piece, chipping over an advancing tackler and then sending the right wing the wrong way in front of posts to complete a well-deserved hat-trick.
Not to put too fine a point on it, the next two games could very well decide the course of the Seasiders’ season and everyone’s well aware of that. A trip to third-placed Tylorstown next Saturday is followed by the visit of St.Peters a week later. The destination of the Div 3(SE) championship will be a lot clearer in a fortnight.
PENARTH Chris Roberts, Chris Poole [Gareth Clancy], Steve Roberts, Liam Bevan, James Crothers [Mike Clare], Rhys Lakin, Owain George, Richard Merrett, Gary Power, Carwyn Griffiths, James Roach [Jason Allen], Darryl Howden, Marc Devine [Elliott Smith] Aaron Ellis, Geraint Blake
OTHER RESULTS:
BRECON 9-25 PENTYRCH