SEASIDERS HIT THE TOP
PORTH HARLEQUINS (10) 31 PENARTH (38) 43
There was little doubt that Penarth would finish the afternoon leading Division 1 East Central, unless something very strange happened in their game against Porth Harlequins at the Welfare Ground on Nythbran Terrace. After all, Harry Wood was celebrating his 100th appearance and had a strong team around him.
In the end, both of these things happened in a deeply weird encounter. The Seasiders were visiting the bottom club, without a win to their name so far, but a team that had scored four unexpected tries in the previous match at the Athletic Field in October.
The opening exchanges went well for the Seasiders as they went into a 10-0 lead courtesy of a fine try by Harry Williams in the fourth minute, but the Quins struck back after 20 minutes with an unconverted try by centre Gavin Lane. Penarth took this warning seriously and moved into a commanding lead in the following five minutes. First, a thrilling line break by Alan Doyle was finished off spectacularly by Cam Sultana and then a brilliant solo effort from Rhys Beynon, running rings around the home defence.
Leading 22-5, with 15 minutes to go to half-time, the Seasiders were totally in charge, except for Porth number 8 Davon Davies popping up with his side’s second try. No matter – Penarth had hit top gear and went on to score two more tries before the break. Ben Wellington claimed the first with a lightning break down the tramlines, but the try of the afternoon was an exhilarating side-stepping break from Andy Richards, finished off with a fine dash to the line.
As the second half kicked off, the visitors looked entirely comfortable with their 36-10 lead and this only got better as Tom Griffiths added a sixth try in his usual style, marching though the defence to the line.
Now here’s the thing, leading 43-10 with half an hour to go, the Seasiders simply never added to their score. On the other hand, the Quins never stopped looking for any points they could lay their hands on and actually secured a try bonus with three converted tries. Admittedly, the visitors had emptied the bench before the hour mark and continued to look for further scores, but nothing ever came of it.
Penarth now lead the division by three points, while St.Joseph’s, busy this weekend losing 26-28 away at Caernarfon in the Division 1 Cup quarter-final, have two games in hand. Next Saturday the Joe’s have a tricky away match at Llanharan, while the Seasiders welcome 6th-placed Llanishen to the Athletic Field. The race for promotion is not over yet, but Penarth have to negotiate tricky away games at challengers Rhydyfelin and Abercynon before they can dream of greater things.
Penarth: Ben Jones. George Roberts, Andy Richards, Rhys Beynon, Harry Williams, Rhys Mottram (Ben Wellington), Spencer Robinson (Tom Hillman), Harry Wood (Geraint Williams), Mason Good, Alan Doyle (Ryan Jones), Will Odgers, Dom Owen, Cameron Sultana, Miles Jones © (Kian Lloyd), Tom Griffths
