Penarth 28 Aberdare 24 – Saturday 20 April 2013

Weather conditions at the Athletic Field last Saturday were the best for some time: almost clear skies, no breeze and a firm ground to play on.

The Aberdare side arrived with the news that it’d have to be passive scrums due to injuries and no replacements for their front row. This was evidently going to cause a few problems as we knew from experience that their outside-half Steve Roberts was very good kicking the ball out of hand.

Straight from the kick-off the ball went loose to the visitors, who elected to kick ahead. The ball landed infield near the touchline close to the 22, bouncing up for Aberdare left wing Ceirion Griffiths to out-jump Rhys Morgan and win the race for a touchdown for a 0–5 lead. It took Penarth 15 minutes to get on to the scoreboard, but Ben Donovan finished off a ¾ movement to score a try which was converted by Mike Hurley. A similar move some 8 minutes later saw James Crothers claim a score which was once again converted by Mike Hurley to put the Seasiders 14-5 in the lead .

Aberdare fought back immediately to claim another score when centre Chris Shellard broke through the defence before passing on to left wing Ceiron Griffiths for his 2nd try, but he scoring wasn’t over yet as Mike Hurley made a good break to score under the posts ,converting his try to make the half time score 21–12 to the home side.

From the restart Aberdare applied pressure to the Penarth line and their number 8 Dan Shaw pulled another try back, converted by Steve Roberts, bring the visitors back to within two points. A mix-up in the Penarth defence then allowed Aberdare’s right wing Lewis Moore to put his side into a 21-24 lead with a try that went unconverted with about 15 minutes of play to go. The Penarth forwards put in some good work, gaining possession in their own half, then a kick ahead eluded the whole Aberdare back division and a chase for the line saw Henry Mitchell get his hand to the ball to claim the try. Mike Hurley again converted to make the final score Penarth 28 points Aberdare 24. The four tries scored by both sides yielded a flood of bonus points and the win was secured thanks Mike Hurley’s 100% record with the conversions.

PENARTH Rhys Morgan, Henry Mitchell, Ben Donovan, Mike Rowe, Mike Hurley, Chris Mortimer, Richard Merrett, Joe Page, Sean O’Sullivan, Richard Ball, James Beaton, Scott Mackie, Aaron Ellis, Matt Sutton .

League Division 3 South-East
Saturday 27th April 2013
PENARTH v Porth Harlequins
The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road
Kick-off 2.30pm