SEASIDERS SURGE INTO CUP SEMI-FINAL

Abertillery 17-52 PENARTH (HT 10-21)
Neither club really knew what to expect from this Division 2 Cup Quarter-Final, although
existing cup-holders Abertillery BG probably felt the tie was theirs to lose for all of ten
minutes. Ben Jones kicked Penarth in front with a 6 th -minute penalty, but his team were
already on top and the first try wasn’t long in coming. The Seasiders’ pressure forced The
Green and Whites to minor. Ben Jones then caught the drop-out, sending Harry Williams
haring off to the corner. The winger was tackled short of the line, but Spencer Robinson
was on hand to follow up for the try.
‘Tillery looked to force their way back into the game, but their approach was based on
physicality, which was to prove ineffective in the face of their well-drilled opponents’ tactics.
The second try came from a turnover to relieve pressure, but as Mike Lang looked to launch
an attack, he forced his way through a gap and outpaced the defence. Tom Griffiths was in
support and claimed the try for a 15-0 lead.
Against the run of play, the hosts came back powerfully as their inside centre came up with a
solo effort, blasting his way through three tackles to the line. A penalty conversion five
minutes later ended the Green and Whites’ sole period of dominance.
Penarth eased further ahead with penalties from Ben Jones and a 50-metre Josh Hurley
special and half-time was reached with the score standing at 10-21.
‘Tillery finally secured their second and final try seven minutes into the second half, but by
then the Seasiders had already stretched their lead from a Joe Williams tapped penalty and
a Rhys Beynon angled run to the line.
Penarth were now unstoppable and still full of ideas. From another turnover on half-way,
they worked the ball out to Hurley on the left-hand touchline. An exchange of passes with
Harry Wiliams left Ryan Hall with the responsibility of finishing the move and the number 8
forced his way over for the third try.
The hosts’ physicality was still in play as they dominated second-half proceedings in the
tight, but Penarth simply kept on scoring tries. A break-out from their own half was halted by
a high tackle on Harry Williams, only for the same thing to happen minutes later. The second
penalty yielded a line-out in the home 22 and the third drive to the line brought Robinson’s
second try.
With 15 minutes remaining and the score at 17-42 the game over as a contest, both sides
emptied their benches and stagnation set in. The Seasiders naturally continued to seek
further scores and Abertillery BG drove themselves to exhaustion trying to stem the flow.
A tip-tackle on Rhys Beynon reduced the hosts to 14 as the game entered the final ten
minutes and Hurley coolly slotted over the penalty from 48 metres. There was a lengthy
delay as an injured Cam Nation received attention and after the restart, the final attack from
the Green and Whites was snubbed out spectacularly as Cam Sultana intercepted and ran
the length of the field for the sixth try.

The Division 2 Cup semi-final will be at a neutral venue against old friends Llanharan on 23rd
March.

PENARTH: Josh Hurley, George Roberts (James Candy), Andy Richards, Rhys Beynon
(Osian Coates), Harry Williams (Joe Williams), Ben Jones, Spencer Robinson, Geraint
Williams (Harry Wood), Tom Griffiths (Mason Good), Ryan Jones (Sam Sully), Cam Sultana,
Dominic Owen (Cam Nation), Mike Lang (Max Woodman), Ryan Hall, Miles Jones ©

Scorers: Tom Griffiths (try), Spencer Robinson (2 tries), Rhys Beynon (try), Cam
Sultana (try), Ryan Hall (try), Ben Jones (conversion, penalty), Josh Hurley (2
penalties).

SEASIDERS BACK TO WINNING WAYS

PENARTH 22-19 Cowbridge (HT 5-7)

When was the last time that Penarth had a game against weaker opposition, a stroll in the park? It was probably the visit of Treharris to St.Cyres School in the middle of November, but the fact remains that the Seasiders’ position in the Division 2 East Central table is not based on facing clubs in the lower half of the table.

Saturday’s home game against 6^th-placed Cowbridge was a case in point. This was serious opposition, who made life very difficult and denied Penarth the space they normally thrive upon.

Cowbridge are probably frustrated at coming away with just a losing bonus point, having matched the Seasiders in tries, with three each. Never mind, the boys struggled, but still won, which says a lot for the character of the team.

On a chilly afternoon with low sun and not a breath of wind, Penarth made a bright start with Charlie Rainbird making his first start and cutting a dash. After nine minutes, Evan Jones charged up-field, but was met by a crunching tackle that brought cheers from the Cowbridge fans. However, Rainbird was on the spot and sniping round the fringe, exchanged passes along the touchline and scored in the corner.

So far, so good and better was to follow minutes later as Ben Jones chipped ahead along the opposite touchline and won the race to ground the ball. Except no try was awarded.Anyway, the hosts were in the ascendency and Cowbridge had yet to turn up in any numbers. Perhaps the Seasiders were trying too hard to turn possession into points, but no further scores ensued until the half-hour point, when the visitors finally secured field position in the home 22, going through eight phases before getting over the line

The score remained on 5-7 as the teams went into the break, but it was Penarth who came out fighting (if not literally) in the second half. Mike Lang made a clean catch from a 5m line-out and was then in position to take a pass on the touchline and drive through three tackles to score.

Now leading 12-7 and keen to increase this slender lead, the Seasiders dominated possession for the next twenty minutes, but Cowbridge’s first-up tackles rained in with force and accuracy and the scoreboard refused to budge. Until just past the hour. Penarth were well set in the visitors’ 22 and had almost scored on five occasions before a scoring pass was spilled. Luckily, Ebbw Vale referee Paul Jones had been playing advantage and awarded a penalty in front of the posts. The home pack had already gained the upper hand in the tight, with Man-of-the-Match Geraint Williams putting in a huge shift on the loose-head, so a scrum was called and captain Miles Jones completed the formalities.

With a 19-7 lead and less than 20 minutes remaining, the hosts set about looking for the customary bonus point, but this simply never arrived. Cowbridge were back within seven points minutes later with their second short-range try and when the Seasiders finally gained a penalty in the visitors’ 22, they unsurprisingly opted to go for the points to restore the two-score lead at 22-12.

This proved to be a sound investment, as they struggled to hold on and Cowbridge secured their third try minutes before the final whistle. Penarth travel to Cilfynydd next Saturday, where the Taff Vale side are recovering from a 74-28 thrashing from Llanishen.

PENARTH: James Candy, James Crothers (Rhys Morgan), Spencer Robinson, Rhys Beynon, Ben Wellington, Ben Jones, Charlie Rainbird, Geraint Williams Harry Wood, Mason Good (Tom Griffiths), Sam Sully, Cam Sultana, Dan Calahane (Dominic Owen), Mike Lang, Miles Jones ©, Evan Jones

Scorers:           Charlie Rainbird (try), Mike Lang (try), Miles Jones (try), Ben Jones (2 conversions,1 penalty).

SEASIDERS RETAIN RICHARD THOMAS CUP

Old Penarthians 14-27 PENARTH (HT 7-12)

A well-attended Cwrt-y-Vil on a still, cool, dry Boxing Day gave us an eminently playable surface after all the recent festive rain and a very entertaining clash between the town’s two senior teams.

This was, as usual more a contest between two ‘Boxing Day’ selections, than any sort of cup-tie between the team sitting at the top of Div 2 East Central and the other in the lower reaches of Div 4 East Central. And none the worse for that.

Old Pens declared their intention to play a high-tempo game and try to unsettle a far-from-settled group from across the road. Penarth, on the other hand, were more than happy to rely on flashes of inspiration from their more experienced members.

It didn’t start that way, as with less than 3 minutes played, George Kynaston ran a long clearance up the left-hand touchline, found James Candy as they crossed half-way. The centre drew the nearest defender and wing Will Hardy cruised in for the opening try.

Now Old Pens’ pressure game brought fruit as they gained field position in Penarth’s 22, but conceded a knock-on. However, the Seasiders struggled with their exit and the hosts forced a turnover, scoring in the corner. 7-5 after ten minutes.

The next 15 minutes settled into the usual post-Christmas arm-wrestle, with Penarth dominating possession, but lacking accuracy. Although the scrums were uncontested, they did manage to score a second try from first phase as number 8 Campbell Nation forced his way over.

The score remained at 7-12 until half-time as Old Pens enjoyed the majority of possession and Penarth showed occasional glimpses of quality. Both sides actually struggled to make an impression.

The second half gave us more of the same, but Old Pens drew first blood as an exhilarating line-break presented the ball-carrier with two supporting runners. He only needed the one, as the outside centre cut inside the one defender and straightened up to claim his side’s second try and a 14-12 lead.

After a couple of false starts, Penarth began to dominate possession and as they hacked a   loose ball ahead from half-way, three defenders and a solitary Penarth player were in pursuit. This was none other than tight-head prop Sam Sully. Did he win the race to the touch-down? Of course he did. 14-17.

The upper hand had finally been gained and Penarth piled the pressure on. As the game entered the final quarter Mason Good crossed for a short-range try for the ‘bonus point’ and a 14-22 lead. Was there time for one more as Luc Keane-Adams executed a lengthy line-break from half-way? Yes, but not before he was caught in the 22 and the arriving support generated quick ball from the breakdown and Rob Rees scored the fifth and final try in the corner.

PENARTH: George Kynaston, James Crothers, James Candy, Osian Coates, Will Hardy, Rhys Morgan ©, Tom Hillman, Sven Camilleri, Mason Good, Sam Sully, Harrison Pugsley, Jack Peterson, Evan Jones, Campbell Nation, Hugh Leach.

Replacements: Luc Keane-Adams, Alan Doyle, Ben Jackson, Jamie Spender, Jason Ahmed, Henry George, Rob Rees, Alex Ahmed

Scorers:           Will Hardy (try), Campbell Nation (try), Sam Sully (try), Mason Good (try), Rob Rees (try), James Candy (conversion)

TRUSTY SEASIDERS WIN YET AGAIN

Caerphilly 27-36 PENARTH (HT 3-26)

After a three-week lay-off, featuring two postponements, the Seasiders must have been straining at the leash as they faced fifth-placed Caerphilly at Virginia Park last Saturday. The hosts were also up for it and looked decidedly lively in a closely-fought opening half-hour. Penarth took the lead after only 3 minutes. Spencer Robinson tapped a penalty, gained a ‘not 10’ and the driven line-out from the second penalty led to a classic Tom Griffiths try. The Cheesemen struck back almost immediately with a penalty.

Twenty minutes of stalemate followed, with neither side exactly covering themselves with glory as error followed error. Not for want of trying, though and in the final ten minutes of the half, the Seasiders scored three tries in swift succession and claimed the usual bonus point.

From a solid scrum, they worked it into the opposition 22 and three phases later Matt Allen crossed for the second try. With the wind firmly in their sails, Penarth were unstoppable. Allen secured the restart and the team were almost immediately back in the Caerphilly 22. This time it was Man-of-the-Match Rhys Beynon charging at the line and breaking two tackles to score.

Things weren’t going well for the Cheesemen and as the Seasiders were laying siege on the line in the right-hand corner, a massive scrap broke out in the middle of the field and nowhere near the ball. The referee took no action and play was restarted with a Penarth scrum five. Miles Jones picked up at the base to score and the conversion was secured with a sinuous banana kick from Ben Jones.

The score at half-time was 3-26 and there honestly seemed to be no way back for Caerphilly. They lost their right wing to injury and then the visitors were back in position with a 5-metre scrum. This led to a scrum penalty, where Robinson simply picked up at the base and drove over.

At this point (3-33) the hosts finally realised they were already on the wrong end of a hiding and decided they should do something about it. That something amounted to scoring four tries and claiming a bonus point for themselves. Entering the last ten minutes, they were still 25 points adrift and Penarth understandably emptied the bench.

This brought debutant scrum-half Charlie Rainbird on to the pitch at scrum-half and he immediately set about making a name for himself, nearly scoring a try down the tramlines. However, it was Caerphilly who were quite literally making all the running and it was the Seasiders’ turn to try to keep up.

Caerphilly secured a second try with a high-speed passing game and then a third. At this point, Penarth finally got something like field position in their opponents’ half and Ben Jones stroked it over to stretch their rapidly-deceasing lead back up to two scores. Which was just as well, since Caerphilly’s fourth try arrived on the point of full-time. By now, the Seasiders were bewildered to the point of boredom, not a familiar feeling for a squad seeking a second successful promotion. With a rearranged cup-tie against Llantwit Fardre to come next, all eyes turn to a crucial league fixture against chief rivals Llanharan at the Dairy Field on Saturday 30-Dec-23.

PENARTH: Luc Keane-Adams, George Roberts, Andy Richards, Rhys Beynon, Ben Wellington, Ben Jones, Spencer Robinson (Charlie Rainbird), Geraint Williams, Tom Griffiths (Mason Good), Ryan Jones (Sam Sully), Matt Allen, Cam Sultana (Nathan Frost), Miles Jones ©, Ryan Hall, Mike Lang.

Scorers:           Tom Griffiths (try), Spencer Robinson (try), Matt Allen (try), Miles Jones (try), Rhys Beynon (try), Ben Jones (4 conversions, 1 penalty)

SEASIDERS BACK ON TOP

PENARTH 57-19 Treharris (HT 35-7)

At a time in the season where it was important to keep the winning run going for Penarth, it was a very welcome move to the excellent facilities of St.Cyres School that allowed this match against Treharris to go ahead.

This week, the slow nature of the pitch didn’t noticeably affect the Seasiders’ fast-paced game as they scored nine tries and went back to the top of the table in the absence of a fixture for closest rivals Llanharan.

Despite dominating and going into an early lead though captain Miles Jones, they struggled to control matters for a while, at least partly due to a strong cross-field wind and Treharris even managed to level the scores after 12 minutes.

This was as good as it got for the visitors, but it took until the 24^th minute for Penarth to go ahead as Rhys Beynon picked up a loose kick ahead and set Spencer Robinson running. The scrum-half completely out-paced the cover from inside his own half to score the second try.

The Seasiders went on to register three more tries before half-time. The first was spectacular, as Man-of-the-Match Sam Sully received a pass on half-way and set off at high speed, selling an outrageous dummy on the 10m line before giving Harry Williams the scoring pass on the 22.

Although Penarth were still struggling to make any progress in the scrums, the back division more than made up for this in the first half. From a goal-line drop-out, Harry Williams ran it back at an angle, finding Ben Wellington on the left wing who cut inside his opposite wing to score behind the posts for the try which secured the bonus point.

With half-time approaching, a Treharris player kicked the ball away from an offside position on his own 22 and Robinson simply tapped the penalty and was under the posts before the visitors could catch him.

The match was arguably firmly in the bag as the Seasiders made a nervous start playing into the wind. A string of handling errors allowed the Phoenix to pull back another try, but five minutes later, there was yet another spectacular home move to delight the fans. Robinson set off from inside his own half, then Harry Williams found Sully as they crossed the 10m line. The tight-head prop opened his box of tricks a second time, selling another dummy before jinking his way to the posts.

As the pack finally got on top in the tight, a penalty struck by Ben Jones into the 22 for a line-out was expertly driven to the line, where Sully completed the score for his second. Treharris were gifted a third try though an interception, but this was far too late to affect the result.

Two more tries followed, as Sully very nearly made it a third, before the supporting Matt Allen forced his way over, but the young prop wasn’t to be denied. A sweeping three-quarter move found him lurking on the right touchline from where he broke a tackle to limp over in the corner. The hat-trick a fitting climax to a Man-of-the-Match performance.

Penarth travel north next Saturday to face 8^th-placed Llantwit Fardre in Church Village, with a third-round Division 2 Cup tie to follow at the Athletic Field against the same opposition a week later.

PENARTH: Harry Williams, James Crothers, Andy Richards, Rhys Beynon (Rhys Morgan), Ben Wellington, Ben Jones, Spencer Robinson (Tom Hillman), Harry Wood (Sean O’Sullivan), Tom Griffiths (Mason Good), Sam Sully, Dom Owen, Cam Sultana (Matt Allen), Miles Jones ©, Ryan Hall, Mike Lang.

Scorers:           Sam Sully (3 tries), Spencer Robinson (2 tries), Miles Jones (try), Harry Williams (try), Matt Allen (try), Ben Wellington (try), Ben Jones (6 conversions)