CLASSY SEASIDERS REALISE POTENTIAL

Canton 7-29 Penarth (HT 7-12)

We all know Penarth have a strong first-team squad in this curtailed season without relegation or promotion, but if you ever wondered what would happen if a large number of their most threatening players became available at the same time, last Saturday’s fascinating run-out at Canton provided a glimpse.

The game went ahead due to the artificial pitch at Lawrenny Avenue, but unlike the previous game there between the sides, it was the visitors that adapted to the conditions from the kick-off.

From a Penarth scrum in the first minute, Spencer Robinson made one of his trademark arcing breaks, easily finding George Roberts out on the right wing for the first try. It all looked too easy, but classy players tend to give that impression.

Both sides were committed to a high-tempo ambitious game-plan, but the Seasiders were simply much better at it. James Docherty was key to this, as he flung massive miss passes to left and right. After twelve minutes, one of these reached Roberts out wide, who passed inside to Josh Hurley, entering the line from full-back. He ran it at the defence for 30m before Robinson took the pass to loop around to the corner and back behind the posts.

Canton hit back almost immediately with an attacking scrum from the restart. They moved the ball quickly to the right, where their full-back came in at pace at just the angle to slice through and score.

Penarth dominated the remainder of the half, but a combination of increasing niggle and desperate defence from the hosts kept the score down.

The second half started with a bang and you got the impression that Canton had finally realised it wasn’t going to be their day when Matt Allen, on the end of yet another Robinson break, galloped over.

That’s not to suggest they gave up exactly, but all the pressure they brought to bear was met with calmly professional defence from the Seasiders. As proceedings drew to a close, Penarth nailed the door shut with two late tries. For the first, Richie Bowen gave us a number 8 cameo in a scrum to feed a standing-off Robinson who again found Roberts reading waiting for his second try of the afternoon,

The final score also came from a solid scrum and this time it was replacement lock Alex Shore driving deep into the Canton defence before the ball was smartly recycled and Roberts was again perfectly placed to complete his hat-trick.

This was a game where George Roberts would rightly claim to be man-of-the-match, but it was just a marvellous team effort. Weather permitting, Penarth travel to Llanharan next week hoping to continue their away form.

PENARTH:

Josh Hurley, George Roberts, Andy Richards, Rhys Beynon, Ben Wellington (Josh Powell), James Docherty, Spencer Robinson (Ellis Shewring), Harry Wood (Rhys Powell), Mason Good, Ryan Jones (Sean O’Sullivan), Matt Allen, Cam Sultana (Alex Shore), Josh Barden, Miles Jones©,

Scorers:

George Roberts (3 tries), Spencer Robinson (try), Matt Allen (try), Andy Richards (conv), Josh Hurley (conv).