SEASIDERS EXTEND THEIR STAY AT THE TOP

RHIWBINA (5) 10 PENARTH (47) 87 

This was never a game that the Seasiders were going to struggle with. Rhiwbina were already losing their struggle to stay in Div 1 East Central and had already lost 84-0 at the Athletic Field back in November.

Penarth were close to full strength, having waited four weeks since their last game and facing a three-week wait for the next game.

In the end, the Seasiders had too much of everything for the Squirrels: size, skill and sheer numbers. You wouldn’t guess from the way that Rhiwbina never gave up, but they started with only 15 players and finished the game with 13, so due respect.

The game, shorn of any pretence to be a real contest, was a simple procession of tries for Penarth, none of them conceded lightly and no simple run-ins. George Roberts fell well short of his personal best against Rhiwbina, scoring a mere four, rather than his usual six. Sam Sully started at loose head and his partner on the tight head put him into a gap for a trademark try.

Spence retired early once the bonus point had been gained (26 minutes) and Josh Marshall gave us a neat display of his work capped by a classic scrum try at the base. The back row were lively throughout, with only Kian Lloyd missing out on a score, captain Milo and Evan Jones marking up one apiece.

Tom Griff and Ben Jones also crossed for well-worked tries, while Cam Sultana and Will Odgers were an athletic pairing, the latter working tirelessly on his line-breaks for the try that never quite materialised. Rhys Mottram caught the eye with his kicking game and finished up converting nine of the thirteen tries, while Mason Good topped off a tidy shift with a close-range try.

Once again, the question arose as to whether this was the club’s highest-ever score, the conclusion being that while this was the probably the biggest in terms of ‘points for’ the earlier game was still the greater margin. This was entirely down to the resilience of the Squirrels, who had a mountain to climb, but never gave up, being rewarded with two tries.

With three games remaining, the Seasiders are still leading the table, but with only an outside chance of still being there at the final whistle. Unless an earlier rearrangement of the St.Joseph’s game is announced, the next fixture will be an away game at Abercwmboi, followed a week later by a visit to rivals Abercynon.

Penarth: James Candy, George Roberts, Andy Richards, Rhys Beynon, Harry Williams, (Been Jones), Rhys Mottram, Ben Jones, Spencer Robinson (Josh Marshall), Sam Sully (Harry Wood), Tom Griffiths (Mason Good), Ryan Jones (Alan Doyle), Will Odgers)., Cameron Sultana, Evan Jones, Miles Jones, Kian Lloyd.

Scorers: George Roberts (4 tries), Spencer Robinson (2 tries), Ben Jones (try, 2 conversions), Sam Sully (try), Miles Jones (try), Tom Griffiths (try), Josh Marshall (try), Mason Good (try), Evan Jones (try), Rhys Mottram (9 conversions).

© Peter Weston 03-Feb-25