SEASIDERS RIDE HOME ON DOCHERTY RECORD
Penarth 34 Wattstown 15 – Saturday 1 November 2014
With only this game before the autumn internationals and a month-long lay-off, the Seasiders needed to make the most of the opportunity against bottom club Wattstown and they didn’t disappoint, registering a bonus-point win. Not that it was straightforward; it never is this season.
A lively start in blustery conditions seemed to favour the visitors, as Penarth couldn’t lay their hands on any meaningful possession and had lost Gareth Matthias to the bin after only 15 minutes. All this aside, it was the hosts who surged into the lead with the first score on 23 minutes. Having dominated in the scrums without profit, they tried a maul and met little resistance as Elliot Smith was steered over the line.
Suitably encouraged, the Seasiders started to string together some moves. Tom Bartlett fielded a stray ball in his own half and Rhys Lakin hurtled on to the pass and chipped ahead, only to be obstructed. The penalty where the kick landed on the edge of the Wattstown 22 was slotted away tidily by James Docherty.
Two minutes later came the move of the game as Docherty made it clear he intended to clear the 1000-point hurdle at the earliest opportunity. A cross-kick was touched in flight by the Wattstown left wing and the visitors shorted the line, giving Penarth a clean catch. As the ball was worked wide, Rhys Morgan entered the line from full-back and flung an inch-perfect pass to the wing where hooker Docherty was cutting inside, through a gap and beating the cover to the line.
Giving a hint of what was to unfold later, punches were beginning to be thrown as the visitors saw the game slipping away, but the Seasiders finally made it count in the tight, forcing a penalty as the Wattstown scrum disintegrated. The penalty went to touch and then the visitors miscued badly as Stu Clarke caught neatly and scored unopposed. A fine conversion from the touchline landed Docherty his tenth point of the game, bringing him up to exactly 1000 career points.
With the game rapidly slipping from their grasp, Wattstown finally got their act together. Winning a line-out in the Penarth 22, they made a couple of forward thrusts before right wing Ryan Smith intervened and scored in the cormer.
Any suspicions that the Seasiders were about to embark on another of their escape acts, having done all they needed to do to win the game were soon encouraged as visiting full-back Zack Philpott slotted over a penalty from 30 metres to reduce the arrears.
Luckily, Penarth proved disinclined to indulge in any more cliff-hangers and claimed the bonus point on 53 minutes. Scot Mackie took a line-out on the ten-metre line and Alex Thau was clean through to the line before being tackled. Tom luck, following up, still had the undivided attention of a number of defenders, but reached out to score.
All the momentum was with the hosts now and a fifth try was not long in coming. Another Wattstown scrum was pushed backwards and the catch-and-drive from the line-outt brought Elliott Smith’s second try.
With fully 20 minutes remaining and the Seasiders comfortably home at 34-8, the visitors’ patience snapped and chaos ensued. Firstly a massive brawl ensued at the next scrum, which ended with Wattstown down to fourteen men after a red card was finally awarded, then Tom Bartlett followed with a yellow in a separate incident two minutes later before Mike Clare and another Wattstown player were bizarrely yellow-carded a short while after. While all this nonsense was in progress, it was the visitors who made all the running, scoring a second consolation try as Philpott skipped past a stretched defence.
No league fixtures, then, until 6th December, when the Penarth travel to Abercynon.
PENARTH: Rhys Morgan, Jamie Halpin, Alex Thau, Tom Luck, James Crothers, Rhys Lakin, Gareth Matthias, Sean O’Sullivan, James Docherty, Jerome Bryan, Mike Clare, Stuart Clarke (Scott Mackie), Geraint Blake, Elliot Smith, Tom Bartlett
Scorers. Smith (2T), Docherty (T, C, P), Clarke (T), Luck (T)
