SEASIDERS BACK ON THE ROPES
Penarth (8) 15 Treharris (12) 33
Just when you thought Penarth had sorted out their problems and had finally shaken off the threat of a second relegation in two seasons, a losing streak, the sort of consistency you really don’t want, comes back to haunt you.
The five league games played since beating Cefn Coed at the beginning of December have yielded four defeats and one abandonment. The Seasiders have been competitive in all but one of the completed fixtures, but have lost every one. This leaves the club badly exposed if more than two clubs end up being relegated from Division 3 East Central A.
As usual against high-flying sides like Treharris, Penarth put in all the necessary hard work against the quick, strong and shouty visitors. The pick-and-drive game was going well and this yielded an early lead from a James Docherty penalty which lasted until the end of the first quarter.
The Seasiders had dominated up to the twenty minute mark, but had not managed to extend their lead when Treharris fought their way into the home 22 for the first time and drove a lineout to the corner for a try by Craig Loxall.
In addition to the stiff breeze at Penarth’s backs, the heavens opened and the rest of the half was played out in challenging conditions. This was wholly to the visitors’ advantage as they knew how best to tackle such weather. This wasn’t stick-it-up the jumper stuff, but a relentless short passing game that the whole team could take part in.
On the half-hour other penalty set up a line-out in the home 22 and this time the Phoenix worked the ball quickly to the right-hand corner where full-back Lloyd Bennett exploited a huge overlap to score. Back came the Seasiders and, on the stroke of half-time, they struck back with another multi-phase pick-and-drive which gave them a line-out deep in the 22. Owen Thomas caught the throw and a smart drive by the pack saw Chris Mortimer over the line.
With the rain still pouring down after the restart, Treharris soon extended their narrow lead as a tapped penalty gained 30 metres and a swift recycle opened up another overlap which Bennett again took full advantage of. The bonus point try arrived 5 minutes later as a long clearance was carried over the home goal-line and the visitors did that short-passing thing rather than try to drive the 5m scrum over and prop John Ross scored under the posts.
A rather unnecessary fifth try arrived on 65 minutes and for once the Penarth defence was to blame as hooker Stephen Parry was allowed to complete a solo drive into the home 22 and under the posts. In a classic example of ‘too little, too late’, the Seasiders came back strongly and Miles Jones scored in the corner from a line-out for a final score of 15-33.
Whatever the rest of the season has to offer, the next fixture away at Gwernyfed has ‘must win’ written all over it. The Talgarth side have the unusual distinction of having played more games than Penarth, but trail them by six points.
PENARTH:
James Docherty, Ben Hill, Owain Lord, Rhys Morgan ©, James Crothers (George Roberts), Kevin Maddox (Morgan Smith), Spencer Robinson, Richard Merrett, Mason Good (Liam Richards), Ryan Jones, Owen Thomas, Josh Spragg, Elliott Smith (Alex Fulton), Miles Jones, Chris Mortimer.
Scorers: C Mortimer (t) M Jones (t) J Docherty (p/c)
