Seasiders Hit the Wall

Wattstown 18 Penarth 6 – Saturday 2 November 2013

The Seasiders finally got to measure themselves against one of the genuine promotion contenders and although at full strength and fielding a great-looking bench, they came up short. The conditions were far from perfect and both sides contributed a catalogue of errors, mostly of the handling variety, it was nearly always the hosts that seemed to have the better ideas.

Not the case for most of the first quarter and Penarth definitely had Wattstown rattled. An early penalty for the hosts suggested otherwise, but the visitors struck back with two Mike Hurley penalties before laying siege to the home line. Penalty followed penalty as Wattstown infringed at the scrum, but just when a penalty try seemed certain, the referee pinged the Seasiders’ front row for an early push and the chance was gone.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that the side with the better pack ought to dominate in wet, windy conditions, but Wattstown’s approach was simply to gain field position and take it from there. Their strength lay in a slick back division rather than up front and this was the source of the decisive try three minutes from half-time. A steady build-up in the Penarth 22 led to a number of thrusts, but eventually it was inside centre Dano Roberts over under the posts.

Leading 10-6 at the beginning of the second half, the hosts were able to take full advantage of the wind and although the Seasiders fought all the way, they hardly threatened the home line throughout. Even when they gained penalties in a good position, suspect judgement led to missed penalties into the wind when a line-out might have brought better rewards with their forward dominance.

Although they managed plenty of possession, chances were lost with over-ambitious moves which didn’t really fit the conditions. Wattstown stretched their lead with a further penalty after 53 minutes and then after another eight minutes shut the Seasiders out of the game with a second try.

Penarth had managed to relieve the pressure on their own line and were trying to drive a maul to make room for a clearing kick when the ball squirted out and hit the deck. Wattstown scrum-half Jack Foulkes pounced on the loose ball and fired it to the touchline where hooker Tom Foulkes was waiting to drop over the line.

With twenty minutes to go and the teams evenly matched, this might still have been a contest, but the simple fact is that Wattstown had taken what few chances had come their way, while the Seasiders didn’t. Given their time over again, they might have kept it tighter on a day when handling was always going to be a risky business, but this time the side with the better organised back division took the spoils.

The Autumn Internationals now take centre stage and Penarth won’t be seeing league action again until Saturday 23rd November, when Pontyclun are the visitors at the Athletic Field. There’s clearly more to come from this Seasiders squad, who have now slipped to fifth and remain well in touch with the top of the table.

PENARTH James Candy, Chris Mortimer, Mike Hurley, Michael Gubb, James Crothers, James Thatcher, Rhys Morgan (Owain George), Richard Merrett, Joe Page (Gary Power), Sean O’Sullivan, Richard Ball, Jon Boland [Stuart Clarke], James Beaton, Mike Clare, Matt Sutton [Geraint Blake].

National League Division 3 (SE)
Saturday 23rd November 2013
PENARTH v Pontyclun
The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road
Kick-off 2.30pm