UNDER-STAFFED SEASIDERS CHASE THE GAME

Pontyclun 26 Penarth 3 – Saturday 20 September 2014

Most of those travelling to Windsor Park on Saturday were affected by the road closures, but the worst affected were arguably the Seasiders themselves. With only 13 of their allowed 20 players having arrived by 2.30pm, referee Ben Porte insisted on a prompt kick-off and the visitors were forced to chase the game from the outset.

The numbers had evened out after about 15 mins, but Penarth were already seven points in arrears after the first of many telling interventions by the Badgers’ left wing and free agent Gavin Evans.

Luckily for the Seasiders, the starting 13 included Richard Merrett and he soon made his presence felt, mostly at every single scrum. The home front row popped up with monotonous regularity, but instead of this forming a solid base for controlling the game, the referee consistently ordered resets rather than penalties and Pontyclun survived.

James Docherty reduced the arrears with a penalty after 36 minutes, but the hosts worked it up the middle from the restart and once again Evans made all the difference, putting Sam Grant over out wide for what proved to be the hooker’s last contribution.

The start of the second half was much delayed, waiting for the ambulance to arrive and when play eventually resumed, there was little to tell between the two sides as the Seasiders never let up in the efforts to get back into the game. All to no avail, as following another lengthy injury delay, blindside flanker Josh Smith crossed in the corner after 50 minutes.

With the game rapidly slipping from their grasp, Penarth were bizarrely starting to dominate as aspects of play and Richard Howells was making a big impression in the second row with an athletic display. Unfortunately, the small matter of actually scoring points eluded them. A 20m driven maul gave them field position, but James Thatcher was caught when a try finally seemed likely.

The final score came up with 12 minutes remaining and again it was the influential Evans making all the difference. Popping up on the right wing, he chipped ahead on the Penarth 10m line and was soon overtaken by his left wing Jo Williams. An outrageous bounce in-goal eluded both Williams and two Penarth defenders, but Evans was following up and grounded the ball for his second try and a bonus point for the hosts.

The Seasiders can now look forward to a re-arranged league fixture next Saturday, when they welcome old rivals St.Peters to the Athletic Field. The Rocks fell to their first defeat of the season last week, losing 20-31 at home to Clwb Rygbi Caerdydd.

PENARTH: Keiron Carpenter, Louis Chandler, James Thatcher, Rhys Lakin (Miles Jones), James Crothers, James Docherty, Rhys Morgan, Richard Merrett [Jerome Bryan], Joe Page, Sean O’Sullivan, Mike Clare [Stuart Clarke], Richard Howells, Scott Mackie, Elliot Smith, Geraint Blake