SEASIDERS LAST-MINUTE BONUS

Penygraig 25-18 Penarth (HT 10-11)

This may not have been the team that head coach Matt Bolton would have liked to field for this critical fixture up at Graig Park, but you couldn’t fault them for effort. They fought every inch of the way against a Penygraig side that often seemed to have the upper hand, but committed a bewildering array of errors.

So much so that the Seasiders were still in the game going into the last ten minutes and even when a losing bonus point appeared lost with five minutes left, they came back strongly to reclaim it.

Penarth had made a steady start and despite fielding no regular place-kicker, went into an early lead when captain Rhys Morgan slotted over a 40m penalty off the far post. The advantage didn’t last long, as home full-back Gareth Parsons made the line break and lock Mathew Jeczalik crossed for the try.

This state of affairs was just as short-lived. The Seasiders offered some neat passing of their own and won a penalty on the edge of the Graig 22. Chris Mortimer secured ball from the line-out and the drive gave Penarth penalty advantage they didn’t need as Miles Jones crossed in the corner.

The hosts came back strongly and despite the usual stout defence from the Seasiders, a single missed tackle gave blindside flanker Austin Davies just enough room to squeeze over for a second try. A second penalty from Morgan in the 15 minutes up to half-time they’d generally dominated, meant that Penarth turned around 10-11 in the lead.

The second half was not so kind to the Seasiders. Graig forced the pace from the off as the visitors buckled under the pressure, with captain David Thomas driving over for his side’s third try. Most of the half was evenly contested, with Penarth trailing 15-11, but two late scores by the hosts, with scrum-half Nathan Webber claiming the bonus point with a try from a line-out with five minutes remaining, pushed the score out to 25-11.

Thankfully the Seasiders saw this as unfinished business rather than game over and with the last move of the match, full-back Luke Adams broke the line decisively, but an ankle-tap lost him his balance. Ball worked swiftly right to George Roberts who followed suit by cutting straight through the defensive line for the try and the losing bonus point Morgan’s conversion secured.

The pack had gone well throughout, with props Ryan Jones and Man-of-the-Match Harry Wood providing able support to Mason Good and more than deserved a penalty try in the second half, even if referee Darren Randal remained unmoved. Narrow margins again.

No game next week, as the Six Nations resumes, although Clwb Rygbi have a re-arranged fixture at home to promotion-chasing Treharris, which may have some bearing on Penarth’s fortunes.

PENARTH:

Luke Adams, George Roberts, Owain Lord, James Crothers, Ben Hill, Kevin Maddox, Rhys Morgan ©, Harry Wood, Mason Good (Liam Richards), Ryan Jones (Sean O’Sullivan), Harrison Pugsley, Anthony Pine, Josh Spragg, (Elliott Smith), Miles Jones, Chris Mortimer (Rob Rees).

MUST WIN GAME POSTPONED

When you face a game such as Penarth should have played last Saturday which simply has to be won, there are all sorts of anxieties about player availability and preparation, you just have to get it right.

Of course, we now know that the wintry weather that left Penarth almost unscathed left a bone-hard pitch behind it in Talgarth, so the away match against Gwernyfed was postponed on Friday.

With no fixture due until Saturday 16^th February, this gives the club a bit of a breather and time to take stock. The prospect of a second relegation in two seasons is not a comfortable one, especially with the sort of talented squad the Seasiders occasionally have at their disposal.

A further element of uncertainty is exactly what constitutes being in the relegation zone. The vagaries of the latest overhaul of the WRU league structure  has led to a position where all divisions from Division 1 down are faced with the prospect of up to 3 teams being relegated in each division. The math is relatively simple in that league numbers require 10 teams to be relegated across each of the 4 conferences of each division. However, the criteria by which the two 10^th placed sides will be decided upon is a mystery, known only to the bigwigs at the WRU (or at least we presume they know what they are going to do).

So how exactly do Penarth RFC find themselves teetering on the edge of the Division 3 East Central A relegation zone with only eight games to go?

As happened last season in Division 2, they began with a long losing sequence. With a number of younger players coming into the squad, a bedding-in period was to be expected, but what actually happened was ultimately frustrating. While some parts of the team’s game flourished (19 tries in the first six games), others took a while to sort out (29 tries conceded in the same period).

At the time of writing the Seasiders have scored a total of 60 tries with young guns Spencer Robinson (9) and Rhys Beynon (7) leading the way. But that is weighed against 90 tries conceded. The question of why the defence has been so frail may have something to do with the 52 players that the side have used to date and the fact that only 6 of the squad have appeared in more than 75% of the fixtures.

There were plenty of narrow defeats that could have gone either way and then there were also bizarre contests such as the 53-36 defeat at Cowbridge which featured 8 tries from the hosts and 5 from the Seasiders.

It wasn’t until the end of October that the spell was broken in an exhilarating win at Pontcanna Fields against Clwb Rygbi Cymry Caerdydd. This 46-23 triumph spoke of better things to come and a further two wins soon followed, only interrupted by a 34-10 defeat in the usual bar-room brawl up at Fairwater.

We could reasonably expected this to continue, but then bad luck crept back into the equation with an undeserved 16-15 away defeat at Old Illtydians in December. The New Year brought the abandoned fixture at Tylorstown where Penarth were more than holding their own for 54 minutes in a high-pressure contest, but then the momentum fell away again.

Another narrow defeat followed at home to high-flying Cowbridge and then a catastrophic, best-forgotten unravelling away at Pontyclun. Monsoon conditions last time out against promotion-chasing Treharris only demonstrated that the visitors adapted much better to the conditions rather than any huge gulf between the two sides.

The Seasiders will have to fight tooth and nail for survival in this division and it’s entirely possible that they could win all the remaining fixtures, even if the visit of leaders Fairwater might present something of a challenge.

Penarth Mauled by Badgers

Pontyclun 71-0 Penarth (HT 40-0)

Following strong showings against two of the division’s high flyers in the last couple of weeks Penarth headed to Pontyclun on Saturday in confident mood seeking a victory that would have moved them further into the comfort zone in the middle of Division 3A East Central. What unfolded in the 80 minutes however was an abject performance in which they were comprehensively outplayed in all departments by a side that started the day just 1 point and 1 position above them in the table.

The game started badly for Penarth as within 3 minutes the home side had crossed the whitewash for the first of their 11 tries. A long kick saw Ben Hill isolated and strongly challenged on the floor by the Pontyclun winger, the referee missed a clear knock on by home player which saw the ball spill out and the Pontyclun player following up crossed for an easy try.

Another try followed shortly after as a number of Penarth indiscretions allowed Pontyclun to kick their way into the Penarth 22, secure possession and cross under the posts for a well worked try.

Being 12-0 down within 7 minutes of kick should have sparked some reaction from the Penarth players but none was forthcoming and save for a couple of sharp breaks by lively scrum half Spencer Robinson Penarth never looked like troubling the scoreboard.

Four more tries followed before half time each looking much the same as the last as the home forwards dominated and overpowered the Penarth pack whilst their back line tore through the Penarth three quarters with impunity.

The half time score read 40-0 and whilst the second half couldn’t get any worse, it certainly didn’t get any better with a further 5 tries being added by the rampant Badgers. As the match wore on the home side in their black and white tops looked more and more like the Barbarians as their confidence swelled in the face of very little opposition and the ball was repeatedly recycled in more and more inventive and crowd pleasing ways.

The final ignominy for Penarth came in the final quarter whereupon it became obvious that the referee was trying to limit the damage on Penarth’s behalf with decisions that appeared to be based more on pity than any particular infringement from the home side.

It is hard to put a finger on exactly what went wrong for Penarth, although credit must go to Pontyclun whose run to the quarter final of the Bowl has reinvigorated their season and whose simple but effective game plan was ruthlessly and relentlessly executed. Whilst there were 5 changes from the Cowbridge match the previous week this was no excuse, indeed four of the five changes saw regular starters Richard Merrett, Kevin Maddox, Ryan Jones and Iwan Baker return to the line-up. The departure of top scorer Tom Smith to the bright lights of London is undoubtedly a loss to the side but not to this extent.

Given the forward steps taken over the course of this season Penarth have little time to dwell on this hiding and they need to bounce back quickly with some big fixtures on the horizon. First up are Treharris, who are one of the favourites for the title and a side who have already handed Penarth a thumping 54-29 defeat earlier in the season, followed by the biggest game of the season to date away at Gwernyfed who currently occupy the second relegation position and sit 6 points behind Penarth in the table.

With winless Cefn Coed cast adrift at the bottom and Clwb Rygbi undergoing a resurgence following their progress to the quarter finals of the Bowl it increasingly appears that Penarth are now very much in a relegation battle, with Gwernyfed as their main rivals. The Talgarth based side are the only team to have played more games than Penarth in the league this season so a Penarth victory would open up a healthy looking gap with the return fixture at the Athletic Field to come at the start of April.

But for now all attention will be on forgetting the Windsor Park debacle and getting back to more acceptable standards of play on Saturday.

Penarth: R. Merrett (H. Wood), I Baker (L. Richards), S O’Sullivan, R Jones, H Pugsley (A Fulton) J Hughes, C Mortimer, E Smith, S Robinson, J Crothers, R Morgan, G Roberts (O Lord), B Hill, J Docherty (M. Smith)

SEASIDERS ABANDONED

Tylorstown 27-22 Penarth (HT 15-22)  Match abandoned after 54 minutes.   

The game was halted after 54 minutes as referee Paul Richards was unable to continue having sustained an achillles tendon injury, but what a fascinating contest was unfolding before it was brought to an abrupt halt.

The result does not stand, as 60 minutes’ play had not been completed and the fixture will need to be rearranged, but we’d already seen both the good and bad sides of this young Penarth side and the coaches still have plenty to get their teeth into.

The opening minutes were dominated by home possession, but such was the quality of the Penarth tackling that the hosts simply never got beyond the ten-metre line. After ten minutes everything changed as a Tom Smith break brought play up to the home 22. Having cleared to half-way from a 5-metre scrum, the Tigers felt they’d weathered the storm, but Spencer Robinson simply took the ball from a scrum and ran it into the far corner from there.

There then followed a classic post-score lapse of concentration from the Seasiders as sloppy defensive organisation allowed a huge overlap and the Tylorstown no.5 went over in the corner. Penarth eased back in front with a Smith penalty after 20 minutes, but the Tigers came back with a second try ten minutes later.

A move came from deep with a clear but unpunished case of crossing and the home left wing made 40 metres down the flank before being well tackled on the line. Without support, the ball was available for the Penarth defenders, but no advantage was taken and the Tylorstown outside-half arrived to pick up and score.

The Seasiders then entered a purple patch and looked as if they might take control of the game before half-time. They were soon back in the home 22 and winning a penalty. Trailing by only two points, the posts seemed to be the right option, but Robinson tapped it quickly, beat two defenders and put Rhys Beynon in at the corner.

With three minutes to go before the break, it was all Penarth. Leading 10-15, they were soon back in familiar territory in the Tigers’ 22 with Robinson again in possession. The defence was all in place and all exits covered, but this presented no problem for the lofty scrum-half who, with a couple of changes of direction was under the posts with no-one being entirely sure how he’d got there.

Tylorstown nevertheless still had time to pull the score back to 15-22 before the break as two outrageously forward passes punched holes in a static Penarth defence.

Within only four minutes of the restart, the Tigers had drawn level as they patiently worked an overlap and the full-back scored out wide. Penarth seemed undeterred and should have gone into the lead again as great work from Robinson and Mortimer won a turnover and the resulting line-out was driven into the home 22. Ball worked wide, but as Tom Smith looked for all the world as if he’d secured the bonus-point try, the referee disagreed and declared ‘held-up’.

The pace of the game simply never let up and as the Tigers’ outside half completed a stunning score with a blistering continuous acceleration from a missed tackle on his own 10m line, the injury to Mr.Richards brought a scintillating contest to a premature end.

The Seasiders now welcome second-placed Cowbridge to the Athletic Field next Saturday hoping to repeat the five tries they scored in the away fixture without conceding the eight the hosts managed on that occasion.

SEASIDERS LET ONE SLIP

Old Illtydians 16-15 Penarth (HT 10-8)

Here it was at last, the one that got away. With the warm-up being conducted in high winds and torrential rain, the game seemed unlikely to go ahead, but the pitch remained solid throughout.

It could be argued that the match was lost in the first minute, as Illts ran back the kick-off and a Penarth defence still adjusting to the fact that the game was in progress failed to halt a slick move down the left flank, conceding a try and going a man down as Dan Seal was yellow-carded for impeding.

Despite this early shock, the Seasiders settled quickly and took control, as they were to do for much of the afternoon. Working play upfield through several carefully-managed phases, they eventually mauled their way over the line for an equalising try from Josh Spragg.

This didn’t alter the fact that they were one man light and two minutes later Illts had a scrum 30m out, which they drove, winning a penalty advantage. Their right wing exploited this with a clean line-break, putting his outside centre in at the corner.

The home side’s back division had a number of players that looked as if they would have been comfortable playing at a higher level, but the Penarth defence had pretty well got their number and they were to cause the visitors no real trouble from this point on.

However, this turned out to be a much tighter game than the opening ten minutes had suggested and a Tom Smith penalty after half an hour was the only other score before the teams turned around at half time with the home side 10-8 in the lead.

Illts began the second half with a succession of penalties as their discipline deteriorated and the Seasiders came more into game. The early introduction of Spencer Robinson and Harrison Pugsley sparked further life into the visitors and they should have scored after a tapped Rhys Beynon penalty made huge inroads. Nevertheless it was the hosts that scored next in a rare visit to the Penarth half of the field as their outside-half converted a penalty after 67 minutes.

But the Seasiders could sense the Illts were tiring and threw everything at them in the last ten minutes. This could arguably have won them the game and raised them to an unlikely fourth in the table, but for two mistakes. With six minutes to go, a Penarth assault was halted in front of the posts as the ball was turned over and Illts finally managed to exploit the wind by clearing 70m down-range. Then an attacking scrum in the Penarth 22 was turned into a penalty at the insistence of one of the Seasiders’ replacements and this allowed the hosts the comfort of a two-score lead and left the visitors without even a losing bonus point.

The irony was compounded two minutes later as Penarth put together the move of the match as they surged 40m into the home  22 and an Owain Lord pass set Kevin Maddox running around the posts for a converted try. A losing bonus point secured, but it could have been so much more.

In the final game before the Christmas break, the Seasiders visit 5^th-placed Pentyrch next Saturday.

PENARTH:

Tom Smith, James Crothers, Owain Lord, Rhys Beynon (Ben Hill), Aaron Thomas, Kevin Maddox, Rhys Morgan © (Spencer Robinson), Sean O’Sullivan, Liam Richards (Harry Wood), Alan Doyle, Owen Thomas, Andy Lang, Josh Spragg (Harrison Pugsley), Miles Jones, Dan Seal

Scorers – Spragg (T), Maddox (T),  T.Smith (P, C)