Penarth v Brecon

Penarth 13 Brecon 30 – Saturday 17 November 2012

This is when it starts to look a bit worrying, to be honest. Brecon arrived at the Athletic Field having won their last three games, but two of these were big scores against Nantymoel and Tonyrefail. The Seasiders, while still way below strength, were nevertheless able to field a 15 with practically everyone in their accustomed positions.

It even started well, as both sides tried to move the ball and the first score went to the home side, running out of their own 22. James Crothers put in a perfect hand-off before passing inside to David Jenkins who burst clean through to the Brecon 10 metre line before delivering the inside pass to James Candy who ran it in at the corner.

Penarth looked quite animated by recent standards and Brecon showed little imagination as they tried to crash it up the middle of the park, but it all went horribly wrong 15 minutes later. A Seasiders attack broke down on the visitors’ 10 metre line and the ball was turned over. Brecon inside centre Alun Davies raced away and put his outside half Gareth Davies in at the corner, the number ten converting from touch.

Within 5 minutes another turnover was conceded in similar circumstances and this time it was outside centre Richard Price who juggled possession before putting number 8 Tom Daly in space. Brought down 5 metres short of the line, with the referee indicating a knock-on, Daly picked up again and dived over.

The visitors took a scrum against the head, but their handling let them down. This was unusual, as they had already demonstrated and exemplary short-passing game, while the Penarth scrum had been pretty solid. However, with the home defence seemingly in place, full-back Owain Morgan managed to loop outside on the home 10-metre line and take it to the corner where Daly was in support for an out-stretched touch-down.

The Seasiders were still managing to play some stylish rugby, but somehow it was all a bit aimless and a Docherty penalty was answered at the other end by Davies for an 8-20 half time score. Within three minutes of the restart, Brecon had fashioned another overlap with neat offloads and short passes, allowing right wing Alun Morgan to cruise round behind the posts for his side’s bonus-point try.

With thirty-five minutes to go, the game was pretty well over and Penarth were to enjoy a glut of possession without little significant reward. This was largely because there didn’t really seem to be even so much as a plan A. Aggressive defence kept Brecon at bay on the few occasions they threatened, but as the hosts moved forwards, they never really seemed to be going anywhere in particular and a string of tapped penalties led up so many blind alleys. Hopes were raised all too briefly on the hour as Docherty drove a kickable penalty to touch. Aaron Ellis took the ball cleanly at the front and as the pack drove to the line, Mike Clare broke from the back to score in the corner.

Even in the final quarter with Brecon reduced to fourteen men and a whole series of uncontested 5-metre scrums, the Seasiders merrily battered away at the visitors’ line with neither momentum nor variation and a score was as far away at 80 minutes as it had been for most of the match. The Division 3 (SE) table paints a vivid picture of the season so far, which is already looking very much like a three-horse race for the relegation positions.

However, the Seasiders still have a number of potentially influential players on the injury list and their return later in the season may yet prove decisive in a league without many stand-out performers. Next time out after the completion of the autumn internationals will be away at high-flying Aberdare on Saturday 8th December.

PENARTH Nathan Smith, Ben Donovan, James Candy, David Jenkins, James Crothers, James Docherty, Gareth Clancy, Richard Merrett, Joe Page, Sean O’Sullivan, Aaron Elis , Dan Hoffmann, Scott Mackie, Mike Clare, Louis Chandler