SEASIDERS SCORE SIXTH STRAIGHT SUCCESS
Tylorstown 22-35 Penarth (HT 17-16)
On paper this should have been a testing encounter for Penarth playing away against long time rivals Tylorstown, but as they say rugby is not played on paper. With the Penarth side showing no less than 9 changes to the team that defeated Fairwater and playing in a cup competition where they could not qualify for the next round and their hosts were in pole position to progress the Seasiders showed that winning is a habit, and its one that the whole squad has got.
Penarth started brightly and from the off it was clear that Tylorstown were going to struggle to contain the free running Seasiders. Quick clean ball from the forwards gave the backline the time and space to make yards through the wide channels and within 10 minutes Penarth had a 6 point lead thanks to the boot of James Docherty.
The home side got their noses in front after turning over the ball deep in Penarth territory and executing a cross field kick which took a nasty bounce to evade Ben Wellington on the Penarth wing and fall nicely to the on rushing home full back who crossed the whitewash.
Penarth’s reaction was quick and clinical. The lineout, which has been the source of some woe in recent weeks, was firing on all cylinders with Bradman Willams providing the perfect throws for Cam Sultana, back from his latest international break with Malta, and Mike Lang to pluck from the air and give clean ball to Spencer Robinson to get the back line on the front foot. From one of these it was a short burst from Docherty which broke the home defence and when he was hauled down 5m out Robinson was on hand to lift the ball to Rhys Beynon who came on a neat angle to get Penarth’s first try.
A third Docherty penalty stretched the lead before a scrum against the head gave Tylorstown some unexpected ball from which the home outside half managed to execute a 50:22 kick. The home winger reacted first to take a quick lineout and having been caught short Penarth found themselves 17-16 down at half time in a match they had dominated.
However, within 20 minutes of kick off in the second half the match was over as Penarth rattled off three unanswered tries. The first came from a 5m scrum as livewire scrumhalf Robinson burst off the back and it was that man Beynon again who cut the line to cross without a finger being laid on him. Next it was the turn of Harry Williams who finished from 50m out after captain Miles Jones made a big carry inside his own half and Robinson and Beynon had combined again to get behind the home defence. And finally it was Robinson who got himself on the score sheet after linking first with Jimmy Crothers and then Harry Williams before selling a fine dummy to the fullback before going in under the sticks.
To their credit Tylorstown did not give up and had the better of the last 15 minutes but they found a Penarth defence that was not willing to concede easily. Indeed, Tylorstown’s only points of the second half came from a slight glitch in the Penarth defensive system which allowed the home team to sneak over in the corner, for a try which ultimately sees them progress into the next phase of the cup at the expense of Abertywsswg.
Whilst exiting the cup at this early stage is a disappointment to Penarth the opportunity to test the whole squad has provided confirmation that this is a squad with sufficient depth to really challenge for one of the three promotion spots on offer this season, if not for the title itself. The experienced heads of Docherty, Crothers and Rhys Morgan along with the younger contingent of George Kynaston, Sam Davies and Rhys Newman who made an impressive impact in the front row will all play their part over the course of the season in backing up the established starting XV. The forward pack is now finding its feet and the backline must be the most potent in the division which is all boding well. The next test will come at Pontyclun a week on Saturday where Penarth will have the opportunity to tighten their grip at the top of the table in what will be their only outing in November due to the Autumn International Series.
Penarth: Harry Wood (Rhys Newman), Bradman Williams, Ryan Jones (Geraint Williams), Cam Sultana, Andy Lang, Mike Lang, Sam Davies (Tom Griffiths), Miles Jones (C), Spencer Robinson, James Docherty, Ben Wellington (James Crothers), Rhys Beynon, Harry Williams, George Kynaston (Owen Rees), Rhys Morgan.
Scorers: R Beynon (2T), H Williams (T), S Robinson (T), J Docherty (3P/3C)
