SEASIDERS PATIENCE HOLDS
Penarth 20 Fairwater 13 – Saturday 17 January 2015
Fairwater surprised no-one one with their negative approach to last Saturday’s game at the Athletic Field which, for a club in possession of a lively and imaginative back division, has to be disappointing. As expected, the Penarth pack was dominant, but that didn’t guarantee an easy ride.
All the early signs in the boggy conditions were ominous for the visitors as the first two scrums were won decisively by the hosts. Stuart Clarke was held up over the line and the Seasiders were over the line again from ensuing scrum five, disallowed, so when the dose was repeated a third time with the Fairwater scrum in total disarray, Elliott Smith was in for his fourth try in as many games.
Fairwater gained good field position from the restart and gained a penalty which was hooked wide. Penarth were soon forging their way up-field again and the visitors open-side flanker was already in the bin. The scrum-half should have followed him as he got between Gareth Mathias and his driving pack; the referee obviously felt the penalty try was sufficient punishment.
After 16 minutes, the serious part of the of the game was over and the remainder descended in to farce. Thereafter, every attempt by the Seasiders to drive Fairwater back in the tight ended in wheeled scrum, with the home side consistently adjudged to have failed to scrummage straight.
Penarth appeared to remain in control, but a single missed touch from a penalty proved costly as Fairwater ran in back brilliantly from half-way and right wing Kerry Birch scored a good try in the corner.
The Seasiders continued to depend on the scrum as an attacking ploy, but referee wasn’t having any of it and consistently penalised them. Scot Mackie departed with a yellow card and the Fairwater backs began to see a little more of the ball. The left wing ran clear on half-way, chipped ahead, but knocked on in the act of scoring, but Penarth were again penalised and a swift handling movement saw Birch in at the same corner for his second try.
Right on the stroke of half-time, a Docherty penalty allowed the Seasiders to turn around an uncomfortable 5 points in the lead.
Five minutes into the second half Fairwater converted a penalty to close the gap to 2 points, at which point Penarth adopted a more cerebral approach and tried mauling. This worked well, despite Fairwater’s loose interpretation of the rules. A Seasiders catch-and-drive was superbly executed and Gareth Mathias peeled off down the blindside to score. The referee’s response was to award Fairwater a penalty, we must assume for a double movement.
However, the maul was definitely the way forwards and Fairwater had no answer to it apart from conceding successive penalties. Eventually Penarth decided a scrum was close enough to the line to risk a drive and Kevin Maddox scored his side’s third try after 57 minutes.
The remaining 23 minutes were a poor advertisement for the game and despite losing another two players to the bin, the home side held their nerve and repelled several chaotic and nerve-racking attempts by the visitors to claw back the seven points they trailed by.
This desperately-needed victory has to be put down to a display of great character by the Seasiders and next Saturday’s fixture away at Blackweir against St Joseph’s offers a chance to progress even further than the dizzy heights of seventh place where they now find themselves.
PENARTH Rhys Morgan, Nathan Palmer (Jamie Halpin) Alex Thau, Kevin Maddox, James Crothers, James Docherty, Gareth Mathias. Richard Merrett, Simon Barry, Sean O’Sullivan, Mike Clare, Stuart Clarke (Jerome Bryan), Scott Mackie [C], Elliott Smith, Richard Howells.
