Penarth RFC Youth sink the Pirates on their annual tour to Cornwall

Annual Tour – Friday 20 April 2018

Last Friday saw 43 intrepid travellers from Penarth RFC Youth section set off from the Penarth Athletic ground for their annual tour to Cornwall which saw a great weekend rounded off by the Penarth boys overwhelming a Penzance Pirates colts team by 60 points to 5.

On a glorious Friday afternoon, the 29 players, 3 coaches, 2 committee, 4 dads and 4 ‘Special’ chaperones set off from the Penarth club with both excitement and slight trepidation, as last years tour lasted all of 40 minutes before the bus broke down at the Pontprennau services, and there was always the fear for many that if the bus broke down again, the diet coke and flavoured water would run out in the heat of the day. However, a heartfelt cheer went out from the bus when it passed, at great speed, last years breakdown destination and everyone knew the trip was ‘on’ and the boys were well on their way.

Everyone on the bus relaxed, and within hours ‘Sospan Fach’ was being belted out by the lead chaperone Morgan Smith to everyone’s joy, a ‘joy’ that was repeated on many occasions during the tour.

As the dads chatted about the tactics for the game and the political situation of the Brexit ‘in’ or ‘out’ debate, with great dexterity, several of the younger players, on the roll of a dice, played ‘skydiving’ much to the joy of all on board and many cars which passed the bus, tooting their horns in admiration of the skills of balance by the players. Needless to say this was completed by the more agile of players and not a mission for the bigger boys.

After a short stop at the Taunton Dean services where the boys got a round of applause from a school group for their fancy dress apparel, the team managed to replenish their food stock, (despite a bomb threat at one point), for the onward journey to Newquay.

Having arrived at their, what can only be described as luxurious and unique hotel with stunning views over the old Newquay harbour and quaint basement bar, the tour party were joined by several members of the clergy in order that prayers could be taken before the boys ventured out to sample the tea rooms of Newquay.

Early to bed, the team travelled on Saturday, the short distance from Newquay to Penzance to take on the Colts team, and with a stern warning from the Penarth coaches that losing against English opposition was not an option at the start of the game, the Penarth boys turned on the style, which saw the opening try after only 6 minutes to centre Aron Arthur, after good work by the Penarth eight, who were magnificent in the scrum area, with young front row forwards Yaz Ghandour and Matt Hocking dominating their older opposition supported by second rows Owain Jones and Will Parsons and a back row of Thaine Baker Tom Faz and Ellis Smith.

It was only 8 minutes later that the Penarth boys struck again when wing Luke Pringle, on as a blood replacement for Mike Halligan, finished off a great back line move which was started by outside half Ben Jones and centre Toby Dyer, Pringle stealing potential glory from wing Halligan, who stood on the side line in disbelief whilst stemming the blood from his nose.

It was obvious that the young Penarth starting line up were dominating early play as the Pirates struggled to cope with the speed and skills of the Penarth team, and it was only 17 minutes further into the game when Arthur struck for his second try of the game and take the score to 0 -21.

A further try for Penarth came from ‘openside’ flanker Thaine Baker who scored what can only be described as a stunning try after connecting with second row Will Parsons in a ballet like dance, which saw the two players weave, side step and switch their way down the pitch for the flanker to score under the posts for the’ try’ of the match. This moved the score rapidly on to 0-28, however, as the boys started to relax in the sun, the Pirates stole a score back, and at half time the teams turned around at 5 -28.

Most pleasing for the Penarth coaches at the half time point, was that the impressive first half team consisted of all the players which will be available for next year’s season for the Penarth RFC Youth.

The second half gave the opportunity for the coaches to send on the ‘senior’ boys of the squad for their last tour game for the youth, knowing that the ‘cavalry’ would not make life any easier for the Penzance side. With only 4 minutes on the clock and with a dominant Penarth pack that was pushing back the Pirates at a rate of knots, the back line attacked the opposition, and it was Harry Williams who stormed over for Penarth’s 5th Try and take the score to 5 -33.

The sixth try came from Captain and centre George Roberts who seems to be scoring more tries in the latter part of the season as he gets closer to the awards night, and the sublime running skills of the centre took him under the posts after only 6 minutes of the second half and Penarth into a commanding 5 points to 38 lead.

The wind had well and truly been blown out of the Pirates sails and further tries for Luc Kean-Adams, Luke Pringle and Rhys ‘Hit Man’ Beynon stormed the defensive lines of the Pirates and the game ended with the score of the Penzance Pirates 5 Penarth RFC Youth 60.

Following a drink at the Pirates clubhouse and the exchange of speeches, which included a fascinating short speech on the history of the Baa Baas connection with the Penarth club by coach Dai Williams, a return to the hotel gave the boys an opportunity to relax, making full use of the leisure complex at the hotel before experiencing the delights of the Cornish fishing village, to celebrate the outstanding victory of the day.

A quieter return journey on Sunday gave the squad an opportunity to relax and rest, whilst Vice Chair of the Youth ‘Mello’ Marsh sought fascinating ways of inducing hair growth on those dads with a thinning hair line, what fun.

A great weekend was had by all, and the great spirit of the team showed both on and off the pitch by players, coaches, committee and dads alike.

Chair and coach Simon Rees told the Penarth Times ‘ A big thank you goes to the many parents and sponsors who have supported the team for the season and during the annual tour, this has created a great team spirit which has shown itself both on and off the pitch throughout the season’.

Ends

Picture shows centre Rhys Beynon in action

Match Reports – Abercynon and St Peters

“Too little, too late” was the conclusion of one of the senior Penarth players at the conclusion of this animated encounter in which the lead changed hands eight times against fellow relegation contenders Abercynon at the “Y Park” at the weekend. It was too little, in the sense that despite their considerable efforts the Seasiders fell short of the standard required to convince themselves and the referee that they deserved to win this crucial tie. It was too late, in the sense that they had somehow left their best efforts for the closing stages of the game when a blend of official inefficiency and local gamesmanship combined to frustrate their scores.

Last weekend, the lively Abercynon backs posed a host of problems from the outset, but Penarth were first to put points on the board through James Docherty who landed a penalty to take the lead (0-3). After about half an hour of trying Abercynon went through for a try which they converted (7-3). Penarth’s James Crothers answered in kind and the lead changed hands (7-8) only for the hosts to strike again with a converted try (14-8) just before half time. After the break hard-working second rower Owen Thomas went over for Penarth‘s second try with Docherty converting, to recapture the lead (14-15). Abercynon crept ahead (17-15) after a penalty, only for Penarth to strike back through Docherty (17-18). Abercynon pressed ahead and their efforts were rewarded with their third try, which they converted to take the lead (24-18).

Soon after that, despite passive scrums that held them back during the final quarter of this incandescent game, the Penarth reaction materialised as expected as the Seasiders managed to conjure a couple of acts of escapism that should have brought them redemption. But the match official agreed to disagree as Penarth forwards besieged the Abercynon goal-line. Every time Penarth scored, first by scrum-half Rhys Morgan, and then by skipper Alex Thau – scores confirmed by several onlookers – the referee clumsily misplaced behind the attacking side, rushed around only to disallow the tries. “I can referee only what I can see”, was his sincere explanation at the end of the match. This begs the equally legitimate question: “Then why weren’t you there to see the tries?

Now, after Tuesday’s night 7-17 defeat at the hands of a hard-tackling St Peters XV, only a miracle could prevent Penarth from sampling the bitter taste of relegation at the end of the season, though they still have two matches to play, against Llantwit Fardre on Saturday and a rearranged tie against Cambrian Welfare on the 21st of April. This was the third time Penarth and St Peters played each other this season and with the Seasiders winning the previous two games, it was the third time lucky for the Rocks, who managed to overcome a spirited, occasionally imposing Penarth XV. With the score tied 7-all at half time during the first forty minutes largely dominated by the home side (for Penarth the impressive second rower Anthony Pine scored a try, converted by outside half Morgan Smith), the second half turned into an uphill survival struggle for the Seasiders pinned in their own half by the visitors’ awesome defensive effort. In fairness, the gallant Penarth had gone down fighting, but the verdict of the weekend was still ringing in the ears of the players as they acknowledged defeat at the hand of a better side, “it was too little, too late”.

7 April 2018 – Penarth (v Abercynon)

(1-15)

Harrison Pugsley, (Harry Wood) Mason Good,(Iwan Baker) Dave Thomas, Owen Thomas, Nick Davenport, Mike Clare, Alex Thau (Captain), Miles Jones, Rhys Morgan, James Docherty (Morgan Smith) Tom Smith, Chris Mortimer, James Crothers, Ben Hill, (Alex Fulton) Owain Lord

Scorers tries Crothers, O. Thomas, pens Docherty 2, Con Docherty, Yellow Cards Crothers, Wood

 9 April 2018 – Penarth (v St Peters RFC)

(1-15)

Jerome Bryan, (Harrison Pugsley) Mason Good (Iwan Baker), Sean O’Sullivan, Owen Thomas, Anthony Pine (Aaron Ellis), Mike Clare, Alex Thau (Captain), Nick Davenport, Rhys Morgan, Morgan Smith, (James Docherty) James Crothers, Chris Mortimer, James Candy, Ben Hill, Owain Lord

Scorer try Pine, Con Smith

Dinas Powis RFC Youth Save The Day

The tradition of the Good Friday rugby fixture has never been lost by the people of Penarth, and last Friday, despite the heavy rain, a crowd of over 700+ attended the Penarth Athletic field to watch and support the Penarth RFC Youth, who have taken on the huge mantle of replacing the Easter Barbarians game.

The game itself was hampered by set backs when officials from the Cardiff and Vale Youth team withdrew from the fixture with only two days to go. Despite numerous assurances from the District team over many months, the late withdrawal left the Youth coaches and team fixture secretary spending a frantic 24hrs ringing around to numerous teams in order to keep the traditional match on Good Friday alive, and it was local team Dinas Powis RFC Youth who stepped in at the last minute to save the day and make sure the match took place.

With the weather also hampering the game, the conditions on the pitch were truly awful after days of heavy rain, and as the crowd arrived, the Penarth coaches were still bailing water into buckets to try and keep the game on.

Thankfully, the officials of the game passed the pitch playable and the match went ahead in continuous rain and lots of mud.

With Dinas missing some key players, it says everything for the spirit of the game that they still wanted to give the Penarth boys a game, and it was Penarth who seemed to adapt to the conditions well and were able to move the ball quickly to open up the scoring early in the game.

The steady flow of tries continued for Penarth as the bigger Penarth pack controlled the set piece and were able to shift the ball quickly to the back line, who ran in several tries for the home team. Dinas continually tackled ferociously in open play and defended their lines with great enthusiasm.

The large crowd also added to a terrific atmosphere with renditions of ‘Sweet Caroline’ and the singing of the Welsh National Anthem, together with numerous chants of encouragement for both teams and this just added to everyone enjoying a brilliant occasion.

With the officials of the game also joining in on the occasion allowing a free flowing game, despite the rain and mud under foot, both teams were able to produce some quality rugby to entertain the crowd.

The score in the game was irrelevant, the occasion was, and at the end, rugby won the day.

The coaches and committee at Penarth RFC Youth want to thank Dave Davies, his coaching team and Players from Dinas Powis for keeping the tradition of Good Friday Youth rugby at Penarth thriving .They would also like to thank Idris Davies, the referee, and his assistant referees for officiating the game, and the many volunteers who helped on the day.

There is no doubt that the players from Cardiff and District youth unfortunately lost out on a memorable day in their rugby lives, however, we hope that those from Dinas Powis Youth will remember the day with great pride and affection. We certainly do.

Note : Picture shows both teams, officials and coaches and the end of the game

Penarth RFC Youth take top position in the league after overwhelming Pentyrch RFC Youth

Last Saturday saw the Penarth RFC youth team take the short trip to Pentyrch RFC Youth and overwhelm the village team winning convincingly by 48 points to 0 to earn a bonus point win and take the team to the top of the Blues BE league.

On a rare day of good weather, the Penarth boys managed to outplay the village side, scoring a total of 8 tries without reply. The Penarth boys dominated the game from the start, scoring their first try after only 7 minutes on the clock when a good platform from the Penarth forwards created space for the Penarth back line to attack and outside centre Aron Arthur managed to take the ball at pace to storm over the Pentyrch line to open up the scoring. With the conversion from Outside half Harry Williams Penarth took an immediate 0 -7 lead.

It was only a matter of 6 minutes later when Outside half Williams doubled the score when a neat piece of interplay with inside centre Rhys Beynon opened up a hole in the Pentyrch defence for the outside half to score and convert his own try to open up a 0 -14 point lead.

From the re start, the Pentyrch boys pushed hard into the Penarth half and as they applied pressure a number of penalties started to be conceded by the Penarth boys which allowed the home team to push into the Penarth 22 metre area. However, good defence from the Penarth eight stopped the Pentyrch attack and following a good steal on the 22m line, centre Rhys Beynon took the ball all the way to the Pentyrch 22m before he offloaded under pressure for wing Cai Lloyd to score Penarth’s third try and take the score to 0 -21 after 33 minutes.

With the Pentyrch teams heads starting to drop, and the loss of their outside half on a yellow card, the Penarth boys managed to score two further tries before half time through wing Ben Jones and centre Arthur to take a commanding 33 point lead at the break.

Changes were made at half time by the Penarth coaches to give all the squad a run and these included Toby Dyer replacing Rhys Beynon in the centre and George Roberts coming in at outside centre, for Aron Arthur to move over to outside half.

It was only 7 minutes into the second half when the Penarth back line struck again through Harry Williams who had moved over to full back when a neat chip and chase by the fullback saw him ground the ball and score to take the lead to 0 -38.

The pressure on the home team increased when they picked up a second yellow cards for a dangerous tackle and the Penarth boys took full advantage of the extra numbers scoring a further two tries through second row Will parsons and wing Luc Kean -Adams, to take the final score of the game to Pentyrch RFC Youth 0 Penarth RFC Youth 48 and the Penarth boys move to top the BE league with a 4 point lead.

This Friday the Penarth RFC youth are back in action for the traditional Bank Holiday game against a select XV from Cardiff and District Youth at the Athletic Ground with a 2.30pm kick off. The players and committee are hoping for great support from the Penarth rugby public, with the gates open at 1pm and entry to the game £2.

Ends

Photo shows Aron Arthur scoring against Pentyrch supported by wing Luc Kean Adams and flanker Tom Fazackerley