Saturday 5 October 2013 – Brecon v Penarth

Brecon 16 Penarth 18

Thank you for the three championship points, but no, no thanks for the performance! Indeed it was a win, but it was one of those matches when nothing seemed to work, not even those aspects that appeared well under control the previous weekends. It was one of those bad days in the office and the body language of the 24 players gathered around head-coach Paul Williams at the end of the match said it all. There was not one amongst them who did not agree with his brisk assessment – “Guys, we did not deserve to win this one, and were lucky to walk away with three points”. Decision-making was perhaps the most significant casualty of the afternoon, with the ball-carrier electing improbable, barely credible options, both in attack and defence.

Three to one overlap! Forget it! No way should one pass to the unmarked men. Rather, try to break the cover defence singlehandedly and lose the ball in contact as a bonus. Regain possession in defence in our 22!! Instead of booting it into touch, as far away as possible, a risky chip and chase seemed an option!? And then, when needed most, the refined skills so abundantly displayed at Gwernyfed, were painfully absent – passing, kicking, tackling! There are still some Penarth players who believe that a tackle is a fishing implement, which should not be seen anywhere near a rugby pitch. This how Brecon fullback Gwyn Pengelly ended up scoring under the posts unhindered, galloping through our entire defence establishment after fielding an aimless Penarth kick near their 10 meter line.

But then, unlike the self-inflicted defeat at Fairwater, this time there was character, which shone through when it mattered, as well as some-hard-nosed experience that may account for this quite improbable win. As the match was coming to an end, it all had a whiff of Fairwater ‘déjà vu’ when the Brecon tight-head prop pulled out with an undetermined neck complaint, after two consecutive scrums on their five-meter line. There was less than a minute to go and Brecon were leading by three huge points 16-13. What a Charter for underhand tactics this concern for players’ welfare has become! But then there is nothing a referee could do, when a front-rower complains of a neck pain.

And here we go for the one and only uncontested scrum, the third near the Brecon line, and probably the last of the match. What happened next was as much textbook rugby as it was fairy-tale stuff, with two of the team’s most-experienced players taking charge of the proceedings. Replacement No8 and playing Chairman Mike Clare picked up from the base of the scrum and crucially crossed the advantage line before he passed to the rampaging replacement scrum-half Chris Mortimer who crashed over for the winning try in the right had side corner. Earlier, two try-saving tackles by the defiant Mortimer and the never-say die Ben Donovan as well as the dreadful form of the Brecon place-kicker kept Penarth in contention and ultimately contributed to a labored two-point win.

Penarth (1-15) Richard Merrett, Joe Page, Gary Power (Captain), Stuart Clarke (Mike Clare), Richard Ball (Dai Morgan), Matt Sutton, Geraint Blake, Scott Mackie (Ben James), Rhys Morgan (Chris Mortimer), James Docherty, James Crothers, Michael Gubb, Mike Hurley, Ben Donovan, James Candy

Scorers: Tries: penalty try, C. Mortimer; Pens M. Hurley two, Cons M. Hurley.