TRUSTY SEASIDERS WIN YET AGAIN

Caerphilly 27-36 PENARTH (HT 3-26)

After a three-week lay-off, featuring two postponements, the Seasiders must have been straining at the leash as they faced fifth-placed Caerphilly at Virginia Park last Saturday. The hosts were also up for it and looked decidedly lively in a closely-fought opening half-hour. Penarth took the lead after only 3 minutes. Spencer Robinson tapped a penalty, gained a ‘not 10’ and the driven line-out from the second penalty led to a classic Tom Griffiths try. The Cheesemen struck back almost immediately with a penalty.

Twenty minutes of stalemate followed, with neither side exactly covering themselves with glory as error followed error. Not for want of trying, though and in the final ten minutes of the half, the Seasiders scored three tries in swift succession and claimed the usual bonus point.

From a solid scrum, they worked it into the opposition 22 and three phases later Matt Allen crossed for the second try. With the wind firmly in their sails, Penarth were unstoppable. Allen secured the restart and the team were almost immediately back in the Caerphilly 22. This time it was Man-of-the-Match Rhys Beynon charging at the line and breaking two tackles to score.

Things weren’t going well for the Cheesemen and as the Seasiders were laying siege on the line in the right-hand corner, a massive scrap broke out in the middle of the field and nowhere near the ball. The referee took no action and play was restarted with a Penarth scrum five. Miles Jones picked up at the base to score and the conversion was secured with a sinuous banana kick from Ben Jones.

The score at half-time was 3-26 and there honestly seemed to be no way back for Caerphilly. They lost their right wing to injury and then the visitors were back in position with a 5-metre scrum. This led to a scrum penalty, where Robinson simply picked up at the base and drove over.

At this point (3-33) the hosts finally realised they were already on the wrong end of a hiding and decided they should do something about it. That something amounted to scoring four tries and claiming a bonus point for themselves. Entering the last ten minutes, they were still 25 points adrift and Penarth understandably emptied the bench.

This brought debutant scrum-half Charlie Rainbird on to the pitch at scrum-half and he immediately set about making a name for himself, nearly scoring a try down the tramlines. However, it was Caerphilly who were quite literally making all the running and it was the Seasiders’ turn to try to keep up.

Caerphilly secured a second try with a high-speed passing game and then a third. At this point, Penarth finally got something like field position in their opponents’ half and Ben Jones stroked it over to stretch their rapidly-deceasing lead back up to two scores. Which was just as well, since Caerphilly’s fourth try arrived on the point of full-time. By now, the Seasiders were bewildered to the point of boredom, not a familiar feeling for a squad seeking a second successful promotion. With a rearranged cup-tie against Llantwit Fardre to come next, all eyes turn to a crucial league fixture against chief rivals Llanharan at the Dairy Field on Saturday 30-Dec-23.

PENARTH: Luc Keane-Adams, George Roberts, Andy Richards, Rhys Beynon, Ben Wellington, Ben Jones, Spencer Robinson (Charlie Rainbird), Geraint Williams, Tom Griffiths (Mason Good), Ryan Jones (Sam Sully), Matt Allen, Cam Sultana (Nathan Frost), Miles Jones ©, Ryan Hall, Mike Lang.

Scorers:           Tom Griffiths (try), Spencer Robinson (try), Matt Allen (try), Miles Jones (try), Rhys Beynon (try), Ben Jones (4 conversions, 1 penalty)