SEASIDERS FALL TANTALISINGLY SHORT (AGAIN)
LLANISHEN 22 PENARTH 21 – Saturday 10 March 2018
Llanishen’s ‘new’ ground in Llanishen Park was surrounded by puddles and general mire, but the pitch itself was remarkably playable. Into such a prosaic setting stepped top referee Ian Davies and the two sides proceeded to deliver a breathless 80 minutes of rugby.
The hosts dominated the opening exchanges and went through several phases from an attacking line-out before creating the gap that their right wing went through for the opening score. The Seasiders lost no time in retaliating as Chris Mortimer drove deep before Alex Thau took play into the home 22. Here ball was turned over and cleared, but only as far as Tom Smith on the home 10 metre line. The full-back quickly assessed the situation and ran in the equalising try from 50 metres without anyone laying a finger on him.
Straight from the restart James Docherty hoisted a high one back into the home 22 where their full-back failed to make a clean catch and before being caught by Alex Fulton and forced into touch. The catch-and-drive was halted near the line, but the ball was worked inside to Docherty who fed Mortimer for a cracking try under the posts.
Penarth now led 14-7 after 15 minutes’ play, but Llanishen once again made all the running and drew level on the half-hour as their inside centre found a gap in the visitors’ defence on the 22. Although Llanishen were now starting to look dangerous and moving the ball quickly away from contact, the Seasiders continued to press and won a penalty on the stroke of half time, which was missed.
The hosts made a determined bid to take the match away from Penarth as the second half opened. Working though several phases from an attacking scrum, they finally eased their front jumper through a gap and nosed in front 19-14. Despite being put under more intense pressure, the Seasiders struck back twelve minutes later with another try out of the top drawer.
Matt Allen ran a turnover up to half-way as Richie Bowen took it on and drew several defenders in before slipping a near-perfect offload to Ben Hill who outran the cover to score from 40 metres. Docherty completed a difficult conversion from touch and the Seasiders were back in front 19-21 with 22 minutes remaining.
Despite a brief period of pressure as Penarth tried to consolidate their lead, the final quarter belonged to Llanishen as they dominated possession. The Seasiders tackled their hearts out and got out of jail time after time until the hosts finally got the penalty they needed, only for their outside half to miss from 25 metres.
Llanishen continued to press from the drop-out and when the next penalty arrived, they opted for a scrum. More huge pressure and then a knock-on as the clock ticked over into injury time. The Seasiders claimed the ball cleanly, but couldn’t move it beyond first phase and almost inevitably yielded a penalty right under their own posts which Llanishen’s number 10 converted with the last kick of the match.
Penarth surely deserved more than a losing bonus point for such a display, but the real fight against relegation now starts with a critical home fixture against bottom club Llantwit Fardre in a fortnight
PENARTH Tom Smith, Ben Hill, James Crothers, Chris Mortimer, Alex Fulton (Owain Lord), James Docherty, Rhys Morgan, Harrison Pugsley, Iwan Baker, Sean O’Sullivan, Owen Thomas, Matt Allen (Scott Mackie), Alex Thau, Nick Davenport, Ritchie Bowen
Scorers: Tom Smith (try), Chris Mortimer (try), Ben Hill (Try), James Docherty (3 Conversions),
Division 2 East Central
Saturday 24th March 2018
PENARTH v Llantwit Fardre
The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road
Kick-off 2.30pm
