SEASIDERS FALLING OFF THE PACE
Aberdare 18 Penarth 18
After three matches this season, Aberdare have still to get the better of Penarth, but that was no consolation as another two points were dropped in a game they needed to win. With 20 minutes gone and 12-0 down, it looked very much as if the Seasiders were giving up on their promotion bid without too much of a fuss, although they recovered well enough to avoid defeat.
The first try arrived after only three minutes as a number of missed tackles allowed left wing Ceirion Griffiths in at the corner. At this stage Aberdare were being physical and confrontational, pushing the game at such a pace that either Penarth wouldn’t stay with them or they couldn’t keep it up themselves. Both turned out to be true, but first the Seasiders had to fall further behind as full-back James Daniels drew a tackler and fed his right wing Rhodri Jones who accelerated over half way and carved clean through the visitors’ defence to score.
Things were looking pretty grim at this point, but we weren’t to know that Aberdare had already shot their bolt. Penarth finally got their act together after 25 minutes as the hosts knocked on 25m out. The Seasiders first drove the scrum back, then broke and set up a maul from which captain Richard Merrett scored.
A brief surge from Aberdare at the restart brought them a neat drop goal from outside-half Charlie Roberts, but the momentum was clearly now with the visitors.
Chris Poole Popped up at inside centre and threw a long one out to Chris Roberts who eased through the tightest of gaps with brother Steve in support. The winger was well tackled, but the point had been made, which made it all the more disappointing when they pushed Aberdare off their own scrum only to see number eight Chris Speck pick up and make fully 40m to the line.
Roberts picked up another 3 points from a penalty with four minutes to go to half time and the hosts weren’t to trouble the scorers again. James Docherty pulled three points back with a late penalty as the teams turned round with the hosts 18-10 in the lead.
At the start of the second half the Seasiders were destroying the home pack at will and only the referee was keeping them in the game. All the pressure was coming from the visitors, but they never quite worked out how to put their quick backs into any space until they finally proved that patience would bring rewards as they tracked a lengthy rolling maul from Aberdare. As the hosts were forced to release the ball to their backs, the Penarth defence was up too quickly for them and James Crothers was on hand to charge down the clearance and Docherty follow through to score.
Unusually, the conversion attempt was charged down and this was to prove critical. Entering the final quarter and only three points adrift it seemed to be only a matter of time before the visitors made off with the points, but the hosts had all sorts of tricks up their sleeves, including passive scrums, to negate the Seasiders’ advantages.
All of which strung things out nicely until practically the last kick of the game when James Docherty ended up with the thankless task of converting a penalty for the draw.
Penarth will have travelled to bottom of the table Llandaff on Tuesday this week, before facing Llandaff North in a re-arranged fixture at the Athletic Field this coming Saturday. After this, only two matches remain before the end of this fascinating season.
PENARTH Chris Roberts, Chris Poole, Rhys Lakin, Liam Bevan, Steve Roberts, James Docherty, Owain George [Andrew Edwards], Richard Merrett [Sean O’Sullivan], Gary Power, David Morgan, James Roach, Darroll Hawden, Elliott Smith, Aaron Ellis-Munn [Mike Clare], Marc Devine