SEASIDERS STROLL TO SIXTH

PENARTH 34 OLD ILLTYDIANS 0 – Saturday 7 January 2017

The Seasiders clearly fancied themselves in the tight as they established early scrum dominance against a lightweight Old Illts eight, but they couldn’t extend the advantage to the line-out. The visitors had the first go at opening the scoring, but missed a kick at goal and never really came close again.

Despite playing their full part in a scrappy and error-strewn game, Penarth clearly possessed the heavier ordnance and when Stuart Clarke claimed the ball in a line-out on the Illts’ 22, the pack drove it all the way to the line for an Elliott Smith try after 15 minutes.

To be fair, the Illts responded well and set up camp in the Seasiders’ 22 for some time. However, the hosts turned in some well-needed tackling practice, won a turnover and Adam Lewis cleared to the 10m line. Soon they made another clean take in a line-out in their own half and Chris Mortimer put Tom Luck away with Tom Smith in support. The wing was sent clear on half-way and motored round behind the posts, converting his own try for a 12-0 lead.

By now, Penarth had established full control over proceedings, except where referee Simon Beard took a different view. It didn’t seem to matter what approach they took, total dominance of all aspects of the game simply didn’t yield and further points until half-time loomed. Then the Seasiders scored two tries in rapid succession, moved the game way beyond the visitors’ grasp and claimed a try bonus point for the first time this season.

First Elliott Smith, giving his usual master-class at the base of the scrum, fed Lewis, who switched the ball left to Chris Mortimer drawing the defender for James Candy feinting to pass before dummying over. Then a rare Illts attack broke down as a deflection landed the ball at Tom Smith’s feet on his own 22. He expertly kicked ahead a total of three times over 75 metres to score his second try of the afternoon.

Leading 22-0 at half-time, there was a real expectation that Penarth were going to run away with it and within minutes, debutant left wing Colin Osborne had completed a well-taken touch-down in the corner, only for the referee to disallow the score for a knock-on. Just to complicate matters, the visitors’ front eight gained some respite after being shoved all over the place for forty minutes, as a prop was withdrawn through injury and all subsequent scrums were uncontested.

Alan Doyle seems to be developing a taste for line breaks, but two were not capitalised on as the pack failed to ground over the line, then the fifth try arrived in the simplest manner possible. A passive scrum 15m out was fed out to Lewis, who skipped over by the posts, James Docherty adding the extras. The sixth try was claimed by Candy with ten minutes remaining, but the game had gone beyond scrappy by then and was just a succession of penalties and errors.

Nevertheless, the Seasiders are enjoying a real run of form, having won four out of the last five league games since the end of October (and really ought to have won the other). They now rise to a heady sixth in the table, with a comfortable-looking eleven-point cushion between them and 11th-placed Pontyclun in the relegation zone.

No fixture is scheduled for this coming Saturday, so the next game will be Llanishen’s visit to the Athletic Field on Saturday 21st January. The north Cardiff club sit three points behind Penarth in 9th position.

PENARTH James Candy, Tom Smith, Tom Luck ©, Chris Mortimer (Tom Hillman), Colin Osborne, Rhys Morgan (Gareth Mathias), Sean O’Sullivan (Dan Seal), Mason Good (James Docherty), Alan Doyle (Richard Merrett), Owen Thomas, Stuart Clarke, Scott Mackie, Elliott Smith, Alex Thau

Scorers: Tom Smith (2), James Candy (2), Elliott Smith, Adam Lewis (tries)

Tom Smith, James Docherty (conversions).

Division 2 East Central
Saturday 21st January 2017
PENARTH v Llanishen
The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road
Kick-off 2.30pm