SEASIDERS OUTCLASSED
PENARTH 5 PORTH HARLEQUINS 28 – Saturday 30 January 2016
It didn’t look as if it was going to be a long afternoon as Nathan Smith dummied a pass to his outside backs in the Porth 22 before slicing through the defensive line to score the opening try after only four minutes. Admittedly, the fact that it wasn’t going to be easy became clear as soon as Porth drove a maul into the Penarth 22 before peeling it off to outside centre Luke Shepherd who powered over under the posts.
Porth Harlequins aren’t undefeated at the top of the table for nothing. They have a peerless line-out, an almost irresistible maul and a way of accelerating into tackles that’s challenging, to say the least. After full-back Josh Waughington had completely fluffed a 43-metre penalty attempt, they simply concentrated on those positive aspects of their game and prop David Wilcox extended their lead to 14-5 after 19 minutes.
Five minutes later they decided they didn’t even need lines-out and mauls and simply bashed their way through tackles down the right wing, Dan Hitchins completed the score. 21-5 down, the Seasiders suddenly seemed to get the hang of it, soaking up the pressure more effectively, but nevertheless planting too many kicks out of hand straight into the hands of the opposition to make any real progress.
Penarth were taking much of the initiative as the half drew to a close, which made it especially disappointing the Quins were able to gain a line-out in the home 22 in the last minute. Fully exploiting the speed with which they could set a maul in motion, they drove for the line and, as it collapsed, fed Hitchins, coming off his wing at an angle and beating two defenders with sheer pace to go under the posts.
The least said about the second half the better. Yes, there was rain heavy enough to drive most of the spectators into the stand, but everything the first 40 minutes had promised simply didn’t happen in a second half that looked as if it belonged to another fixture altogether.
Either Porth, with a bonus point already in the bag, simply lost interest, or the Seasiders had worked them out and didn’t really need to have been 28-5 down. It’s really no exaggeration to say that there were only two points of interest in the whole 40 minutes. The red card earned by Waughington for a punch thrown at the breakdown and the yellow card theatrically claimed for dissent by Daf Gristock as he clearly caught the ball before planting his foot in touch.
There’s no way Penarth could have exploited the two-man advantage in the last five minutes, as the match had long since descended into farce. The challenge now is to put this dreadful game behind them, as they travel to the other side of Cardiff to face St.Peters next Saturday. The Rocks are only three points ahead of the Seasiders in fourth place, but have played two games fewer.
PENARTH James Docherty, Huw Elias, Adam Lewis, Tom Luck, Paul Collett, Nathan Smith (Ben Hill), Chris Mortimer (Owain George), Jerome Bryan, Simon Barry, Sean O’Sullivan, Richie Howells, Lloyd Hutson (Owain James), Scott Mackie, Elliott Smith, Alex Thau.
Scorers: Nathan Smith (Try)
Division 2 East Central
Saturday 6th February 2016
St.Peters v PENARTH
Minster Road, Roath, Cardiff
Kick-off 2.30pm
