SEASIDERS SHOWING REAL PROMISE

Saturday 15 August 2015 – Penarth 7 Trebanos 31

The Seasiders began their preparation for the 2015-16 campaign in Division 2 East Central at Cwrt-y-Vil playing fields last Saturday welcoming Division 1 West Central Trebanos to Penarth for the first time. The Swansea Valley club had enjoyed a successful season in 2014-15, finishing in third place behind champions Bonymaen and runners-up Skewen.

Penarth, meanwhile, were looking to build on their encouraging finish to last season, which saw them rise from the edge of the relegation zone to a comfortable eighth position with a late surge.

Naturally it wasn’t possible to assess the visitors’ squad, but the pack were impressively large and they gave the impression that they’d come for a run-out rather than a serious physical test. The Seasiders, on the other hand, fielded a number of new faces and were probably going to gain a lot of experience from a work-out against a team from a higher division. So it proved.

The pattern of the game was set in the first five minutes, as a protracted tussle in midfield suddenly erupted after ‘Banos missed a line-out on their own throw, but regained possession before their well-drilled back division put it through the hands for a score under the posts.

Despite this early set-back, Penarth were showing encouraging levels of resilience and the visitors were never able to impose themselves, relying instead on occasional bursts of inspiration. Because of this, the score remained at 0-7 until five minutes before half-time, when a rare excursion into the home 22 yielded a 5-metre scrum. This was wheeled expertly and the number went over under the posts.

The key to keeping the visitors’ opportunities to a minimum was the level of commitment Penarth brought to their defence. There was the set piece, where ‘Banos were able to exert huge pressure, but gained little advantage and the midfield, where most of the play took place as the Seasiders tackled their powerful visitors to a standstill.

However, those occasional moments of inspiration kept on cropping up and it’s fair to say that ‘Banos managed to move play into the Seasiders’ 22 on five occasions in the eighty minutes and scored a try every time. Both early, a minute after the restart and late, with the last move of the game. In between, there was a fourth from the visitors, lifting a lengthy Penarth siege for a breakaway try and then a delightful piece of individual skill from debutant outside half Adam Lewis, running the length of the field with the visitors’ defence in hot pursuit for what felt like rather more than a consolation score.

Overall, you had to say the Seasiders squad showed considerable promise against powerful opponents and when to full strength should make a good showing in the coming season. A second friendly is scheduled for Saturday 29-Aug-15, with a trip across the border to Lydney and the season opens on 05-Sep-15 with a home game against Gwernyfed.

Saturday 29-Aug-15, Friendly: Lydney v PENARTH  Kick-off 2.30pm

Saturday 05-Sep-15, Div 2 East Central: PENARTH v Gwernyfed, Kick-off 2.30pm