SEASIDERS LOSE THE PLOT
Old Penarthians 21-8 Penarth (HT 0-3)
Looking at the respective strengths of the opposing teams, there had to be a suspicion that this might be a closely-fought affair and so it proved.
With Penarth fielding a strong back division, they began to run the ball early on, while Penarthians opening gambit was line speed and effective tackling, so the two sides settled into a dynamic stalemate. This appeared to suit both teams, as the occasional line break was met with solid defence.
The hosts briefly gained the upper hand in the first quarter, with their left wing coming close to a score after only six minutes and generally having the better of the scrums. A missed penalty left the game scoreless at the end of the first quarter.
Then the visitors began to lose players. First to go was a clearly injured Miles Jones, followed by a wincing Rhys Beynon and finally Morgan Smith, but the arm-wrestle continued. Penarth finally edged in front just before the break with a Tom Smith penalty. By this time they were comfortably the better team, but still looking for a way to turn all the possession into points.
The Seasiders rang further changes at half-time as more recent youth players took the field and the match opened out accordingly. George Kynaston came agonisingly close following a Spencer Robinson break from a tapped penalty and their problems in the scrum seemed to have been overcome.
Then, as the game entered the final quarter, everything went badly wrong for the visitors as Robinson found himself on the wrong side of a refereeing decision at a ruck and received a yellow card for his trouble.
Here was the chance Penarthians were looking for as the balance shifted slightly in their favour and to their credit, they really went for it. In the following ten minutes they turned the game on its head and ran out comfortable winners. The ensuing penalty led to a line-out which was ferociously driven to the corner for a try that was converted from touch and a and almost identical second try arrived seven minutes later.
At this point the visitors finally got over the line with a try that made you wonder how they’d failed to score any in the preceding 73 minutes. A George Roberts pass put Kynaston in the clear on half-way and the wing cruised home and behind the posts.
Penarthians completed the scoring two minutes later following a mix-up in the Penarth defence as the home support roared their approval in impressive fashion. This was definitely a Boxing Day for Cwrt-y-Vil to savour and the Seasiders may have some useful lessons to digest before they travel to Tylorstown on 5th January.
PENARTH:
Tom Smith, James Crothers (George Kynaston), Owain Lord (Richie Bowen), Rhys Beynon (George Roberts), Harry Williams, Morgan Smith (Spencer Robinson), Rhys Morgan ©, Harry Wood, Liam Richards (Mason Good), Alan Doyle, Owen Thomas, Andy Lang, Chris Mortimer (Thane Baker), Miles Jones (Nathan Frost, Iwan Baker), Dan Seal
Scorers – Kynaston (T), T.Smith (P)
