TON-UP SEASIDERS RACK UP THE POINTS
Penarth 48 Llandaff North 5
The Seasiders reached the end of a difficult week in their promotion campaign undefeated in three games as they claimed a bonus point in an eight-try demolition of eighth-placed Llandaff North. Since the obvious objective was to come away with five points for the minimum effort (that is to say, injuries), it was hardly surprising that Penarth never got out of first gear, let alone second. The ease with which they achieved this suggests they can go all the way this time as Div 3(SE) championship race reaches its climax.
The first try arrived soon enough as the Seasiders wheeled a scrum 10m out and Mike Clare drove through a ragged defence to the line. Although the game slowed right down at times, Penarth always seemed able to pull another try out of the hat and a clean line break by Rhys Lakin set up the next one for James Crothers after 25 minutes.
The Seasiders were simply not getting involved in anything they didn’t need to and this encouraged the visitors to indulge in a little light mauling, but no further score ensued until the very end of the first half. This time it was Steve Roberts who broke the line and again James Crothers was on the end of the scoring pass with James Docherty drop-kicking the conversion for a half-time score of 19-0.
The home pack decided to get a little more involved in the second half and the bonus point arrived only five minutes in as they drove the visiting eight back for Mike Clare to pick up and feed Aaron Ellis-Munn for the score.
With the desired result in the bag the home side brought on the replacements, but this didn’t slow the scoring rate all that much. James Docherty was the next to break the line and after Elliott Smith and Sean O’Sullivan had taken it on, Aaron Ellis-Munn was on hand to register his second try of the afternoon with several visiting defenders hanging off him.
A lovely chip from Docherty bounced kindly for Steve Roberts after 63 minutes before Llandaff North finally hauled themselves into the home 22 and their openside flanker pulled five points back.
However, the Seasiders hadn’t quite finished and another fine break by Docherty was taken on by Chris Roberts, sending replacement flanker Chris Mortimer away to sprint for the line. Steve Roberts had the last word as brother Chris set him up in midfield and the centre outpaced a still game North outside half to score in the corner.
.
The Seasiders now face Heol-y-Cyw, who have nothing to play for, in their final home game of the season this coming Saturday. Meanwhile Tylorstown must travel to fourth-placed Aberdare, who have clear designs on a play-off spot and everything to play for. The crunch for Penarth finally arrives the following Wednesday when they travel to Penrhys Park in Tylorstown looking for the win that by then could possibly give them the championship.
PENARTH Chris Roberts, Chris Poole, Steve Roberts, Rhys Lakin, James Crothers, James Docherty, Andrew Edwards [Gareth Clancy], Gary Power, Peter Bennett, Sean O’Sullivan [Carwyn Griffiths], Jason Allen, Darroll Hawden [James Beaton], Elliott Smith [Chris Mortimer], Mike Clare, Aaron Ellis-Munn