Pride, Self-belief & Courage

CR Cymru Caerdydd RFC 30 Penarth RFC 24 – Saturday 4 October 2014

Deprived of some of its leading players and forced to play without a bench (substitutes), Penarth produced arguably one of their better performances in recent memory, giving Division Two East Central high-flyers Clwb Rygbi Cymru Caerdydd a genuine fright in the closing stages of a dramatic encounter played at high pace and intensity at the Llandaff Fields in Pontcana. That fact that this composed, thoroughly competent display arrived after the 62-0 annihilation at the hands of St.Peter’s the previous weekend, contributed to the sense of accomplishment of this plucky outfit and the bewilderment of the enthused spectators.

With about ten players side-lined with a variety of injuries and ailments, the news that the main front-row cover for Saturday’s match called in sick just hours before kick-off, seemed almost unreal, adding a sense of injustice and of course insult to what by and large was a pretty dicey state of affairs. So unable to find a replacement front row player at such short notice the Seasiders had to play for the whole duration of the match with fifteen players only. And didn’t they play? The fact that at the conclusion of the 80-odd minutes of playtime Penarth walked away with two bonus points, one for scoring four tries and one for losing by less than seven points, seemed almost miraculous, given the circumstances of the match build-up and tells the whole story of an exciting performance full of pride, self-belief and courage.

The match started in its usual fashion, with Penarth on the back foot, missing tackles, the vital first tackle in particular, losing balls in the air, both at kick-offs and lineout and giving away soft tries. But it was not all bad news, as one could notice the seeds of what was to follow were sprouting into frantic bouts of activity orchestrated by outside half Kevin Maddox, a former Penarth regular, who returned to the Rec after several years at Rhwibina. A try, a conversion and a penalty took the opponents to a 10 point lead, when a persistent spell of attacks saw Maddox bursting through the CRCC tackles for the first Penarth try of the afternoon. Another tentative CRCC attack, saw them through for their second try, which converted took them to a 17-5 lead. But then Penarth bounced back with a vengeance.

The cornerstone of the Penarth audacious fight-back was the front five-unit of Jerome Bryan, James Docherty, Sean O’Sullivan, Mike Clare and Richard Howells, with the front three giving their CRCC counterparts a torrid afternoon. It was from such a dominant scrum that No8 Elliot Smith picked up, with his back-row partner Trevor Blake, the link man, carrying the move forward and scrum-half Rhys Morgan following up to receive the final pass and sprint through, crashing over for Penarth’s second try.
Sensing that the match was slipping away from their grasp, CRCC attacked frantically, with their live-wire No10 Oliver Jenkins, orchestrating the onslaught. But the confidence of Penarth was growing by the minute, so when Tom Luck’s fierce tackle brought his opposite number shuddering to the ground, his centre partner James Thatcher, emerged with the turnover ball gliding gracefully through the bewildered CRCC back line, to end up under the posts. What a try! James Docherty converted, for a 17-all half time score.

After the break, an infringement at a ruck in the Penarth half, ended with Trevor Blake being yellow-carded and CRCC’s Jenkins landing a vital three-point penalty to take the lead 20-17. Jenkins’ tactical kicking kept Penarth pinned down in their 22, and despite the gallant efforts of the Penarth back three, fullback Tom Smith, and wings Kieran Carpenter and Louis Chandler, the locals, taking advantage of another lapse in the Seasiders’ concentration, and Blake’s absence, scored another try, extending their lead to eight points 25-17.

Though virtually exhausted, (the fifteen players who started the match carried on playing until the bitter end), Penarth still had some fire left in the engine, with James Docherty intercepting a ball and springing for more than 80 yards to collapse shattered under the posts. After a while he recovered and landed the conversion, which brought Penarth back in contention 25-22. Again Jenkins kicked CRCC back into the Penarth 22, from where their forwards managed to conjure a new try 30-24.

Penarth (1-15) Sean OSullivan, James Docherty, Jerome Bryan, Richard Howells, Mike Clare, Scott Mackie (Cpt), Geraint Blake, Elliot Smith, Rhys Morgan, Kevin Maddox, Louis Chandler, Tom Luck, James Thatcher, Kieran Carpenter, Tom Smith

Scorers: Tries: K Maddox, R, Morgan, J. Thatcher, J Docherty, Cons J. Docherty 2

SEASIDERS TEAMWORK GAINS LOSING BONUS

Fairwater 22 Penarth 16 – Saturday 6 September 2014

On a glorious September afternoon at Waterhall Park, two teams that are well acquainted with each other’s foibles slugged it out for eighty minutes of an entertaining encounter with the outcome remaining in doubt until the very end.

A Penarth team featuring several new faces took a little time to settle in the face of a determined Fairwater onslaught, but the score remained at 0-0 until the end of the first quarter, when the home side finally got their noses in front with a penalty. In fact, they only extended this to 6-0 with 33 minutes gone and it was on the stroke of half-time that they finally managed to crack a determined Penarth defence as their troublesome number 4 broke through and set his blindside flanker up for the score.

Despite a 13-0 half-time score, there was little to tell between the two teams and the second half promised much. The Penarth defence, in particular, was settling in nicely and the late try represented the only real slip-up.

Playing downhill in the second half, the Seasiders lost little time in putting things to rights. Having gained good field position on the edge of the home 22, they were foiled by a Fairwater infringement. Alex Thau tapped and went, with Richard Howells taking it to the line before Rhys Morgan made the final lunge to score.

With most of the second period to come, all the momentum was with Penarth now and, within five minutes, a James Docherty penalty had reduced the arrears to three points. However, the hosts pulled three back and, as the penalty exchanges continued, the score moved to 19-10, then 19-13 and 22-13, before a final Docherty penalty brought up the score back to 22-16 with five minutes to go.

Ultimately a losing bonus point was a fair return for an encouraging display by a team that gelled quickly and showed no obvious weaknesses. Unfortunately they didn’t quite manage to maintain enough momentum to claim a match where the try count was 1-1 and they might well have won.

Among the newer faces, Tom Smith gave an assured display at full-back, while Nathan Palmer offered ample pace and no little skill and commitment on the right wing. Keiron Carpenter was an encouragingly confident outside half and Richard Howells was constantly involved at blindside flanker.

The more established players all gave a good account of themselves, with Elliott Smith bringing assurance with a welcome return to the back row from the bench. James Docherty offered a dynamic all-round display from hooker and Rhys Morgan capped a fine all-round performance at scrum-half with a well-taken try.

There’s plenty more to come from the new-look Seasiders, starting with the visit of Cardiff side St.Josephs to the Athletic Field next Saturday.
PENARTH Tom Smith, Nathan Palmer, Tom Luck, James Thatcher, James Crothers, Keiron Carpenter (Mike Gubb), Rhys Morgan, Sean O’Sullivan, James Docherty, Jerome Bryan, Mike Clare, Stuart Clarke (Elliott Smith), Richard Howells, Alex Thau, Matt Sutton.

Swalec League Division 2 (East Central)
Saturday 13th September 2014
PENARTH v St.Joseph’s
The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road
Kick-off 2.30pm

New Season Training

Following the vote in the Welsh Rugby Union EGM in June, the WRU have now released the details of the new SWALEC League for the 2014-15 season. Penarth RFC will play in Division 2 East Central, which includes some of the old foes of the previous season, when Penarth played in Division 3 South East, including Brecon, Fairwater, St.Peters, Gwernyfed, Pontyclun, Wattstown and Porth Harlequins. There are three newcomers in the 12-strong league line-up, which kicks off on 6 September: CRC Caerdydd, Abercynon and St Joseph (Cardiff).

The squad has commenced training early this month and all players, old and new are welcome each Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm for a run. The club is delighted to announce that former Bridgend and Bedwas coach Paul Williams has committed himself for a further season, and he will be helped by two outstanding specialist coaches, David Morgan for the forwards and Grant Robson, for the backs. Morgan, a former Llanelli utility prop won two Welsh Districts caps against Portugal and Denmark, while Robson doubles up as Cardiff Blues U16s coach.

Paul Williams, for the past 18 years the Head Coach of the legendary talent factory “The Neath Tertiary College”, nowadays called Neath Port Talbot College, is quietly optimistic, having noted both the numbers and the fitness of those attending the early training sessions. “The numbers attending trainings have been quite encouraging, and we hope for the first time in many years to run two teams this season,” he said.

Penarth RFC Training at Recreation Ground: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm.