SEASIDERS ON TOP IN PROMOTION DOGFIGHT
Penarth 20 St Peters 5
This was the one that counted. None of the possible outcomes from a first-meets-second showdown was actually going to decide the destination of the Div 3(SE) championship, but defeat would surely signal the beginning of the end for one of the teams.
St Peters certainly realised this and who was to say that the club’s lavish expenditure on red meat during the week wouldn’t be amply rewarded? They tore into Penarth from the start and the ferocity of the assault barely lessened for the full eighty minutes. That the Seasiders were up to this sort of severe examination was already evident from the previous week’s cup-tie, but there was a suspicion throughout that any nervousness was entirely the domain of the supporters rather than the team!
Early exchanges were fierce and confined to the middle 20m of the pitch until Steve Roberts made ground up the left flank and James Docherty converted a 30m penalty after 8 minutes. Penarth attacked from the restart and forced quick penalties in the right-hand corner until Docherty kicked to touch and Elliott Smith was driven over in a smart maul for a 10-0 lead.
The Rocks came back hard and dominated the next fifteen minutes. Pinned in their own 22 for long periods of play, the Seasiders also seemed to have conceded the upper hand in the scrums, at least until the referee had a word with their scrum-half. Suitably chastened, the number nine changed his focus and drove a maul towards the home line before peeling off on the open side and crossing for a try.
Half time arrived with the score on 10-5 and it was definitely anyone’s game. St Peters again dominated after the break and, despite missing a penalty when a try might well have been on offer, they were camped out in the home 22. It was getting too close for comfort, but to say that the Penarth defence held would be an understatement. Then suddenly the second half was turned on it head as Chris Poole followed up a long clearance up the left flank. Spectacularly charging down the full-back’s clearance, the winger followed through for a decisive score. Docherty converted for a 17-5 lead, but the Rocks were by no means finished and came back with undiminished ferocity.
However, motivation isn’t everything and the visitors’ fitness and skill levels were beginning to let them down. Even the scrum half had slipped back to his old offside habits in the scrum, yielding a 45 metre penalty which Chris Roberts converted.
Visiting players were dropping like flies now, as the game slipped decisively away from them. The better side had clearly won and composure was, after all, the name of the game. It would have been all too easy to get drawn into a toe-to-toe slugging match, but the Seasiders are surely better than that and now lead the table by five clear points.
With eight league games remaining (one more than St Peters), it’s Penarth’s championship to lose and the challenge shouldn’t be underestimated. On present form (11 successive league wins), they could easily win the lot, but tricky away trips to Tylorstown, Aberdare and Heol-y-Cyw could all too easily turn out to be monstrous banana skins.
This Saturday’s fixture at the Athletic Field against Llanishen shouldn’t be quite as challenging. The north Cardiff club made a storming start to their season, winning five of their first six games, but have recorded no more than a single victory in their last seven.
PENARTH Chris Roberts, Steve Roberts, Rhys Lakin, Liam Bevan, Chris Poole, James Docherty, Owain George [Gareth Clancy], Richard Merrett, Peter Bennett, David Morgan, James Roach, Darryl Howden, Marc Devine (Jason Allen), Elliott Smith (Aaron Ellis), Geraint Blake
THIS WEEK'S OTHER RESULTS IN DIVISION 3 SE:
BRECON 17 - 20 TYLORSTOWN
LLANDAFF NORTH 32 - 13 LLANDAFF
PENTYRCH 7 - 24 HEOL-Y-CYW
FAIRWATER P - P ABERDARE