Saturday 18th April 2026
Llandrindod Wells 17 v Old Penarthians 29
In the middle of a great weekend of rugby at Old Penarthians during which the Club’s U16s won their last game of junior rugby against CRIC, before progressing to Youth level, the Youth XV beat previously unbeaten Aberdare Youth and the Womens XV won against Lampeter, the 1st XV made it a clean sweep with a victory against Llandrindod Wells by 29 points to 17.
This 1st XV win with a bonus point for scoring four tries means that the club is secure in WRU Division 5 East Central for next season. The team should also take great confidence into the 2026/27 season from the form they have shown in the last part of this year that has seen them win four of their last five games. In these 5 matches they have scored 146 points, including 21 tries, so with a relatively young squad the team can build on the experiences gained in the last couple of seasons and move forward with a positive attitude.
But for the end of this year, it was an away trip to Llandrindod Wells to see if they could complete the double over the team that they had defeated by 55-31 in the reverse fixture at home four weeks earlier. And with 19 points on the scoreboard in favour of the visitors after eleven minutes it looked like it would be another relatively easy victory. But this is Old Penarthians and nothing is that simple.
The early exchanges were dominated by Old Pens, initially through the forwards led by Jac Davies and captain, Joe Francis-Oaten, running through tackles to set up attacking positions. And from one of those efforts the forwards drove towards the tryline with a succession of rucks before the ball was released by Ethan Galsworthy to Connor Christie and Cae Williams who passed to Richie Moir to score. The try went unconverted but inside three minutes Old Pens led 5-0.
Five minutes later a solid scrum on the right side of the pitch, anchored by the front row of Mike Jones, Liam O’Brian and Nathen Harris, released the ball to the threequarters and Cae Williams broke through to pass to Ieuan Harris who ran in from 30m to score under the posts. In so doing he scored his ninth try of the season to equal the number scored by Christie who converted the try. Penarthains further extended their lead on 11 minutes when a turnover in their own half by Davies was taken on at pace by Nathan Harris. He made ground before giving a well-timed pass to James Reynolds. It looked as if his speed may take him to his eighth try of the season but he was pulled down just short of the tryline. He did however mange to give an inside pass to Rhys Stout who scored the try which Christie converted.
That lead by nineteen points gave the travelling supporters a lot to cheer and expectations were high but then came the crash back to earth. Instead of continuing the attacking format the side seemed to lose confidence and a series of poor decisions and poor handling brought Llandrindod back into the game. The home team were now the side playing on the front-foot and when two quickly taken penalties brought Llandrindod a deserved try the match was most definitely a contest.
There was one more chance before the half time interval for Old Penarthians to reestablish some control when a line out was cleanly won by Will Davis and Francis-Oaten and Charlie Wheatly drove forward. The move was stopped just short of the try line and when the ball was released quick passing would have created an overlap but an attempt at an inside break was thwarted and a penalty conceded. The ball was kicked dead by the Llandrindod outside half and the half time score was 19-5.
The second half could not have started in a worse fashion. A knock on from the kick off by Davis saw him injured and replaced by Laitham Coombes and from the resulting scrum Llandrindod drove forward though some weak tackling to score a converted try. The score remained in Old Pens favour but the gap was closed to seven points.
Penarthians then regained some of their composure and a breakout of defence by Ieuan Harris from inside his own twenty-two ended with a high tackle on the opposition 10m line. The kick to touch set up an opportunity but a misjudgement failed to see the opportunity capitalised upon. Llandrindod then started to dominate through aggressive running by the forwards at the periphery of rucks and mauls and it was only great defensive work and heavy tackling by all the forwards that minimised the home team territory. The home team did however gain a scrum in the Penarthians twenty-two and from a set move to the blindside a try was scored, that went unconverted. Now the Penarthians points advantage was down to two.
Supporters were now not so confident with 20 minutes remaining and it was not going to be an easy watch. Nerves were however ease five minutes later when a lineout inside the Llandrindod Wells half was won cleanly by Davies and the pack again drove forward. Ground was made and on release of the ball Christie broke through his opposite number and as he was tackled by the last line of defence he off-loaded to supporting centre Craig Haines who scored. Christie converted and there was some breathing space.
This also gave coach Jason Lewis the opportunity to introduce experienced players Joel deClaire and Josh Allcock and the younger Tyler Carter into the line-up and it was Allcock who won a decisive turnover to allow Christie to successfully kick a penalty and the lead was 29-17.
This scoreline was to remain until the final whistle of a well-deserved victory and to bring an end to a roller-coaster type of season. At times during the season the team has played some bright attacking rugby but that has been interspersed with lack of confidence and negativity which has meant that winning opportunities in matches has ended in defeat. But these matters can be addressed and the team can look forward to a new season with hope that they will be competitive against all the teams that they play.
