Saturday 14th February 2026
Caerau Ely 43 v Old Penarthians 0
Last weekend was not a good weekend for the national Welsh team nor community club Old Penarthians as both teams lost by over 40 points. At least Wales lost to a France team who are on top of their game and potential Grand Slam champions. Penarthians opposition in Caerau Ely were not in the same class but they were very efficient playing to their forward strength and were run away winners by 46-0.
In the earlier Division 5 East Central fixture against the same opposition Old Pens were leading by 28 points to 19 with ten minutes of the game remaining. At that point Caerau went to their forwards and they scored two late tries to defeat the home team by 31-28.
Caerau Ely learnt from that game and continued their dominance with a forward effort that presented them with five of their seven tries. The first did not arrive until the 18th minute from a driving maul from a successful lineout but until then Old Penarthians had been more than competitive. Their defence had been strong in midfield with the centre pairing of Cae Williams and Ieuan Harris particularly impressive.
In fact, it was the same two players who combined with an attack from their own half that resulted in a penalty award to the visitors in opposition territory. The kick to the corner resulted in a lineout but a lack of accuracy turned the ball over but Penarthians continued with an attacking scrum. The ball was won but poor handling in the threequarters coughed up the ball and the advantage was lost.
The Caerau second try was a similar set up with a driving maul from a lineout won on the 5m line. This time the conversion was successful and the home side led 12-0. Penarthians returned to the attack when Will Davis pressurised the opposition from the restart and a penalty was awarded. Again, the Old Pens went to the corner from a kick by Ollie Moir and the lineout was cleanly won by Jac Davies from a James Reynolds throw. The drive went forward but was held up over the tryline but another attacking penalty was awarded and another line out. Again, a good catch and drive, which looked to be controlled by Joe Francis-Oaten, but somehow Caerau disrupted the ball and won themselves a penalty. The kick to touch ended the half with a not insurmountable 12-0 lead to Caerau Ely.
The second half however could not have started in more chaotic fashion. Firstly, the kick off from Caerau was misjudged by substitute Lloyd Martin and had to be cleaned up by Josh Allcock. With a sense that a disastrous start had been salvaged a scrum was awarded to Old Pens but in attempting to put in a relieving kick Moir dropped the pass from scrum half Ethan Galsworthy and Careau were awarded a scrum 10m from the tryline. For the first time in the game Caerau got the better of front row of Mike Jones, Reynolds and Laim O’Brain and they drove forward. A sharp pass from the base of the scrum put the centre through for a try under the posts and a conversion and a 19-0 lead to Caerau and the worst possible start for Old Pens.
From that moment onwards it was always catch up for the visitors and despite some attacks from deep from Williams, Steff Davies and Connor Christie it was never enough to completely break free. Harris also made a break from a defensive catch but as he made ground his support was prop forward Nathan Harris who could not make the outside break that would have continued the move.
The situation was not helped when Davies was shown a yellow card on 14 minutes for a high tackle that resulted in a penalty and another driven maul from a line out. Further tries on 26 minutes, 30 minutes and 35 minutes gave the home side a comfortable win against a by now very dispirited Old Penarthians. The final score of 43-0 meant the visitors left Trelai Park with much to think about as they fight to stay in the division.
The next fixture will be a home match against Cefn Coed on 28th February followed by an away match against Cardiff Saracens a week later. These two fixtures may well define the Club’s future with league points definitely required to move the team up the table. This will only be achieved by the players pulling together and supporting the coach and team management in the intervening period to ensure that the talent in the team can accurately carry out a structured gameplan.