SEASIDERS OUTWITTED – Saturday 28 November 2015
PENARTH 8 DOWLAIS 15
The Seasiders played well and kept their line intact for 40 first-half minutes in appalling conditions, but ultimately lost the plot with the wind at their backs in the second and were decisively beaten by a better-organised Dowlais side.
When you play a game like this with high winds and torrential rain, it’s usually a game of two halves, but not like this one. Best to take it in chronological order.
Dowlais made first use of the weather and The Seasiders were pretty well unable to get out of their half, as it was impossible to make more than 10 metres with the boot. With such an advantage and their opponents stuck for long periods in their own 22, it should have been a matter of how many points Dowlais could rack up and whether it was too much for Penarth to overhaul in the second half.
The answer, as it turned out, was none at all. Superb last-ditch defence by the Seasiders kept the visitors out and thirty half-drowned players made their way back to dressing rooms at half time.
No change to the conditions in the second half and Penarth clearly fancied themselves as Nathan Smith returned the kick-off 60 meters down-range and James Docherty put the hosts in front with a well-struck penalty.
The promise of more to come was soon dashed as Dowlais began to experiment with what little opportunity playing into the teeth of a gale presented. As it turned out, they were quite good at it. First it was the short-passing game, followed by a garryowen which Nathan Smith cleverly marked, but then they struck gold with a 30-metre maul which ended 5 metres short of the line with Alex Thau in the bin. Dowlais chose to scrummage from the penalty and drove over for the opening try.
In a brief show of defiance with the wind at their backs, the Seasiders pressured Dowlais in their own 22 as the outside half’s clearance slewed into touch ten metres behind where he’d kicked it from. Penarth lost the line-out, but recovered the ball in the ensuing ruck and hurried it along the threequarter line to Huw Elias, who skilfully drew the defence before accelerating to the corner.
8-5 was a good as it got. The Seasiders rang the changes as a complete new front row entered the fray in spotless kit and Elliott Smith came on to steady up the base of the scrum. Also making a welcome return after injury was Gareth Mathias.
Meanwhile, Dowlais had perfected their playing-into-the-wind technique and mauled their way to a further two unconverted tries to lead 15-8 with thirteen minutes to go. By this time, Penarth were in disarray, their scrum beaten and the backs making all sorts of weirdly wrong decisions in a vain attempt to get back into the game. In the end, there was no question as to which team had adapted better to the conditions, just a little puzzlement as to why they made such hard work of playing with the wind at their backs in the first half.
Hopefully better conditions await Penarth at Talgarth next Saturday as they travel to meet 10th-placed Gwernyfed, who were beaten 15-13 at the Athletic Field on the opening day of the season and have since lost another seven games.
PENARTH James Docherty, Huw Elias, James Candy, Tom Luck, Paul Collett, Nathan Smith, Chris Mortimer [Gareth Mathias], Jerome Bryan [Owain James], Mason Good [Simon Barry], Sean O’Sullivan [Alan Doyle], Richard Howells, Stuart Clarke, Scott Mackie, Alex Thau, [Elliott Smith], Tom Bartlett
Scorers: Elias (try), Docherty (penalty).
Division 2 East Central
Saturday 5th December 2015
Gwernyfed v PENARTH
Trefeca Road, Talgarth, Powys
Kick-off 2.30pm
