SEASIDERS WIN AGAIN IN A NAIL-BITER

PENARTH (26) 43 RHYDYFELIN (26) 38

This time there was a nail-biting finish as Penarth managed to ease their way past an accomplished Rhydyfelin side in yet another 13-try thriller. The returning Spencer Robinson made his point with a try inside the first minute, but it soon became obvious that The Village knew very well how they wanted to play and moved into a 5-14 lead by the end of the first quarter.

For the visitors, it was all about a precise, short-passing game and they consistently worked small gaps in the Seasiders’ defence. What Penarth needed was the reassurance of a Tom Griffiths try and the flanker-for-a-day duly obliged on 23 minutes. Rhydyfelin were soon back, though and taking advantage of a rush out of the defensive line which allowed centre Rylee Beamand to charge though and score.

There was further embarrassment seven minutes later as Penarth seemed to have lost the plot and a knock-on under pressure in the 22 allowed full-back Kian Harris to pick up and score in the corner

The Village now led 12-26, but the Seasiders had finally got their heads on straight and notched up two more tries before the break. A long kick towards touch in the 22 was expertly followed up by George Roberts and a maul was set up from the line-out. Robinson broke down the short side and fed Griffiths for the try. Registering the fact that they’d finally woken up, the backs ran a slick move with Robinson drawing the last defender for Roberts to run it round behind the posts for the equaliser.  26-26 at half time, four tries each and bonus points all round.

The second half began slowly, although the Seasiders seemed to falling into the usual trap of trying too hard and rushing things. However, when the next try finally arrived it was worth waiting for. From a scrum in the away 22, Penarth moved quick ball right and then suddenly reversed it completely and left Harry Williams to exploit the narrowest of overlaps to score in the corner.

The five-point lead the Seasiders had won looked fragile as Rhydyfelin went about their business and took the lead back with full-back Harris skinning the defence down the touchline for a tow-point lead at 31-33. What then followed was a try out of nowhere for Penarth as Williams tidied up a loose pass and made 30 metres up to the 22. The backs combined is a sweet move handling that put Cam Sultana into a gap for the sixth try and another five-point lead.

At no point did it look as if either side had worked out how to win this one and The Village stuck to their game plan and levelled the scores again with 14 minutes remaining. Even when Will Odgers was the unexpected recipient of a scoring pass on the overlap and made no mistake with his finish, it really could have gone either way.

Cue a mass brawl, which seemed, if anything, to have broken the visitors’ concentration. Then a 50-22 set up The Seasiders for one last fling, but the referee had other ideas and blew up for the end of a hair-raising game with Penarth hanging on to a 43-38 lead.

Penarth: Ben Jones. George Roberts (Joe Williams), Andy Richards, Rhys Beynon, Harry Williams, Rhys Mottram, Spencer Robinson, Geraint Williams (Harry Wood), Mason Good, Alan Doyle (Sam Sully), Dan Cahalane (Dom Owen), Will Odgers, Cameron Sultana, Miles Jones ©, Tom Griffths

Scorers: Tom Griffiths (2 tries), Spencer Robinson (try), Cam Sultana (try), Harry Williams (try), George Roberts (try), Will Odgers (try), Rhys Mottram (4 conversions).