SEASIDERS SCRAPE THROUGH
Canton 29-30 Penarth (HT 10-15)
After every great night there tends to follow a painful day to forget, and that was certainly true of Penarth’s trip to Canton on Saturday. The physical and mental hangover from Wednesday nights epic win against Llanharan was clear to see as Penarth laboured to a fortunate win over a dogged and relentless Canton side that was reduced to 14 men for the last 25 minutes.
It all started well Penarth as James Crothers scored an early try after the forwards had conducted a demolition job on Canton’s scrum. The opening 15 minutes looked like being a case of when not if Penarth would chalk up their tries to record a handsome victory but simple errors and dogged defending meant that they were not able to extend their lead.
After an initial warning of two missed penalties from the Canton centre were not heeded Penarth first found themselves level and very soon after behind as Canton capitalised on lackadaisical defending to twice crash over from close range through their big forwards.
A Josh Hurley penalty settled the Penarth nerves and it was Hurley who sparked Penarth back into the lead as he collected a loose ball and beat three defenders before sending Spencer Robinson clear up the left touchline where he drew last man and fed Josh Powell who beat the last man and went in under the posts.
So at half time Penarth were ahead and it appeared that Canton’s moment had passed. But that was far from the truth. The game lacked any flow due to both sides completely failing to work to the referees instructions, despite the several long explanations from the man in the middle. As a result both sides saw two men spend time in the sin-bin which if nothing else opened the game up a little bit.
It was Canton who struck the opening blows in the second scoring from deep inside their 22 after an ambitious counter attack and then followed up straight from the kick off as their rangy second row strolled straight through the Penarth defence before a neat off-load saw fly half Dafydd Manley cross for his sides fourth try, both tries he also converted.
Now Penarth had a problem, 24-15 down and looking out on their feet against a side brimming with confidence. The answer to Penarth’s prayers was to arrive from the bench in the form of tighthead Sam Sully. After making one scintillating break from in his own half the fleet footed front row forward was at it again as he found himself in space on the right wing deep in his own 22, whist most props would shake at the thought he simply sidestepped the first man and burst down the wing. When he was finally caught on the Canton 10m line he had the presence of mind to loop an offload to the on charging Cam Sultana who opened his legs and showed his class as he romped in under the posts.
With their tails up Penarth were soon back for more and Hurley kicked another penalty to give them the lead. Canton would not give up though and were happy to attack from anywhere, which lead to their ultimate downfall. A speculative chip and chase from the home fly-half was too long and Hurley collected it comfortably before beating his man and giving Powell a chance to burst down the left wing and over the line to extend the Seasiders lead to 6pts and provide the much needed bonus point.
With 5 minutes left and Canton down to 14 men, you’d have been forgiven for thinking that the match was won. But alas no! Canton came roaring back and managed to crash over out wide to make it a 1pt game. Fortunately for Penarth Manley’s kicking boots had not been packed and the conversion slid wide. There was still time for Canton to have one more crack, but as the ball moved wide it was fumbled and Andy Richards swooped into collect and the game was done.
Whilst it did nothing for the heart-rate, combined with Fairwater’s losses to Clwb Rygbi in midweek and St Albans on Saturday, it did mean that Penarth place in the top three is now confirmed and with it promotion to Division 2 East Central for next season.
Next weekend sees a trip to Tylorstown for what should surely be a more comfortable victory against a side that have somewhat lost their way this term before what promises to be a potential title decider against Pentyrch on 6th May.
Penarth: Geraint Williams, Bradman Williams, Ryan Jones (Sam Sully), Cam Sultana, Andy Lang, Tom Griffiths, Tom Marsh (Rhys Morgan), Owen Lloyd (Mason Good), Spencer Robinson, James Docherty, Josh Powell, Osian Coates, Andy Richards, James Crothers, Josh Hurley
Scorers: J Powell (2 tries), J Crothers (try), C Sultana (try) J Hurley (2 con, 2 pen)
