Last Saturday Old Penarthians 1st XV entertained Brecon Athletic in a WRU Division 5 East Central fixture. Brecon were worthy winners by 27 points to 7 but it was a hard-fought match with Old Penarthians players battling throughout the contest against a very well drilled opposition. The organisation of the visitors should however not have been a surprise because Brecon 1st XV play in the WRU Premiership which is six divisions higher that the one in which Old Penarthians play.
This is the second fixture of the three league matches that have been contested against the Athletic sides of Premiership teams, The other being Cardiff Met, and whilst the overall league record may show only one win against two defeats the performances of the Old Pens against these quality teams should stand them in good stead in the upcoming fixtures.
The team is relatively young and still learning under coaches James Greenfield and Jason Lewis and captain Joe Francis-Oaten but the willingness to play adventurous rugby through a talented threequarter line will hopefully bring dividends.
The game against Brecon did however not start well despite a good take and carry by Jack Chandler from the kick off. His support was slow to arrive and Brecon gained a turn-over penalty which they kicked to the corner. The lineout was however knocked-on and Old Pens were relieved to be awarded a scrum. That relief was to be short lived when a Brecon scrum, which was dominant throughout the match, pushed the Old Pens pack off the ball and the no 8, Will Davies picked up and scored a try. The conversion was unsuccessful.
Penarthians were however soon on the attack and on 8 mins a penalty kick to the corner from Josh Preece led to a lineout. Liam Brooks was accurate with his throw to Josh Allcock and a driving maul was set up. Brecon collapsed the maul and a penalty was awarded. Penarthians in an attempt to keep the play flowing quickly did not set up correctly and a misunderstanding led to Brecon clearing their lines and a chance was lost.
Pressure returned to the Old Penarthians half of the pitch and despite outstanding tackling from all players Brecon were awarded a penalty for offside in mid-field and three points resulted for an 8-0 lead. Ten minutes later the driving forward play by Brecon led by the two second rows and the number 8 led to another try which this time was converted.
Old Pens were still trying to make ground and attacking runs from Steff Davies, Connor Christie and Cae Williams gained territory but the final support was not quite there. That said on 32mins it was the forwards who again controlled an attacking lineout and the drive from Charlie Wheatley, Nathan Harris and Chandler took the ball towards the posts. With Brecon realigning to the open side a sharp snipe from Ethan Galsworthy to the blind side saw him cross for a try that was converted by Preece.
A half time interval scoreline of 15-7 to the visitors was a fair reflection of the efforts of both teams.
The second half started with a change in the front row with Harris being replaced by Liam O’Brian but Brecon remined on the attack. Further changes saw Henry Kynaston replace Brooks with James Reynolds going to hooker but Kynaston’s day was ended 3 minutes later when a recurrent shoulder injury sent him back to the sidelines.
Again, good defensive work restricted the Brecon attacks but after one of the best controlled scrums in their own twenty-two Old Pens failed to clear their lines and a chip kick was caught by the Brecon centre and after three quick passes Brecon scored another unconverted try.
This was followed on 30 minutes by another dominant scrum by Brecon for their fourth try that was converted. It was however Penarthians who finished the stronger and after another set of driving lineout mauls Francis-Oaten was deemed to have been held up just short of the line by an illegal act by Brecon but only a penalty resulted rather than the harsher award of a penalty try. A final attack was also called back for a throw-in that was deemed to be ‘not straight’ when the opposition did not compete and the score finished at 27-7 to the visitors.
Next week the 1st XV has an away trip to Glyncoch for their next league outing.