ERRORS AND PENALTIES COST SEASIDERS

PENARTH 13 DINAS POWYS 34 – Saturday 24 September 2016

It was always going to be interesting to see how Penarth would respond to last week’s disappointing defeat against Abercynon and the first twenty minutes were really encouraging. Both sides began brightly, trying to run the ball at every opportunity, but the Seasiders were fully in control of the situation and took an early lead with a Huw Elias penalty after only 5 minutes.

Dinas came back with a steady pick-and-drive advance, but an organised Penarth defence soon recovered possession and Elias sent a huge touch-finder into the visitors’ 22 from a penalty. Scott Mackie quickly tapped a free-kick from the line-out, Mason Good made the extra couple of metres to the line and Elliott Smith completed the score from close range.

The pressure continued as Elias again broke through in the centre, but was stopped illegally and the penalty brought the score up to 13-0. From this point, the home side, full of confidence and with their tails up, went on to concede five tries without scoring any further points.

The match gave a sudden lurch in the Villagers’ direction at the start of the second quarter and by half-time the position was irretrievable. A penalty conceded in receiving a restart brought Dinas’ first try as number 8 and captain Josh Dunleavy forced his way over, but worse was soon to come.

The restart was sent deep into the Dinas 22 and the ball fed to left wing James Wiltshire, who went clean through a missed tackle in the advancing Penarth defensive line, sprinting fully 75 metres to touch down under the posts. The visitors were now in the ascendancy, despite only leading by a single point, but the Seasiders’ resistance was finally broken in the final minutes of the half.

Dunleavy scored his second on 34 minutes as the home scum’s early control collapsed under a welter of penalties. Penarth found themselves on the wrong side of referee Mr.Lloyd Hughes and Scott Mackie in the bin. Dinas drove the line-out over for a bonus-point try from outside-half Gavin Cooper and a 26-13 half-time lead.

Half-time brought considerable relief. A better understanding with Mr.Hughes allowed the Seasiders to regain much of their earlier confidence. The Villagers soon lost a player of the own to the bin, but any home advantage was soon lost as elaborate line-out routines squandered possession. Dinas lost a second player to the bin as the hour approached without further score and Penarth continued to press.

In the end, it was the visitors who were to break the deadlock with their first visit to home 22 after 65 minutes. A ferocious first drive to the line was halted, but at the expense of a yellow card for Gareth Mathias and the penalty was converted, extending the lead to 16 points.

The was little left in the tank for the Seasiders as the Villagers went on search of their fifth try and Richard Merrett was the recipient of the final yellow card of the afternoon. As full-time approached the visitors finally got what they wanted as a clearly demoralised home defence lost control of the ball on their own 22 and Dinas right wing Rhys Evans picked up and sprinted home through a missed tackle.

Despite the obvious problems, this is still a strong-looking Penarth squad and next Saturday brings the annual visit to Roath to face undefeated St.Peters.

PENARTH Tom Smith, Paul Collett, Tom Luck, Chris Mortimer (Rhys Morgan), James Crothers, Huw Elias, Gareth Mathias (Tom Hillman), Sean O’Sullivan, Jerome Bryan (Richard Merrett), Mason Good, Alan Doyle, Matt Allen, Anthony Pine, Scott Mackie, Elliott Smith, Alex Thau (Dan Seal)