Fixture

Old Penarthians v Tongwynlais Match Report

Saturday 10th October 2015

After a week without a fixture due to the inability of intended opponents Whitchurch to raise a team it was back to league action for Old Penarthians last Saturday in a Division 3 East Central (C) match at home to Tongwynlais.

It was a match that saw Old Penarthians retain their unbeaten start to the league programme with a 27 points to three victory.  The team also earned a bonus point for scoring four tries and they retain the pressure on the top two teams in the division.  Ferndale are top thanks to the fact that they have played one more fixture than Old Pens.  Cardiff Saracens are second and are also unbeaten but with an additional bonus point.  These top teams meet in the next round of league fixtures.

The game against Tongwynlais was something of a mixed bag and definitely a game of two halves.  The first half was a relatively lively affair with both teams trying to play some flowing rugby with no one dominating.  The second half saw Old Penarthians play some of their best rugby of the season for fifteen minutes before the match became fractious as the teams became embroiled in the less savoury aspects of the game and the referee had to award three yellow cards to offending players.

The first half started with Old Penarthians playing into a stiff breeze and trying to gain territory through driving play through the forwards with Mark Smart, Tom Sidford and Dave Hoskins to the fore.  The scrum was under a little more pressure than usual but the lineout was performing well with controlled ball from Alun Haines and Joel deClaire, but it appeared that the three-quarters were trying too hard and many of the moves broke down at the last moment.

It was however a surprise that Tongwynlais scored the first points of the game after twenty minutes through a Gayfn Blake penalty after Gareth Clancy was penalised for a push on his opposite number at a scrum.

With the half coming to an end Old Penarthians launched a final attack.  From a lineout won on the left hand side of the pitch by Haines, the backs combined well to send Lloyd Davey through the centre.  He was tackled but support from forwards Danny Godfrey, Chris Cobbold and Sam Hall saw the ball recycled again in mid field before Jon Crimp and Mark Sadler committed more defenders and Tom Sidford was able to crash over for his first try of the season.  With the kick missed it gave a half time score of 5 - 3 to Old Pens.

Whatever was said at half time by coaches Simon Hurley and Anthony Davies obviously worked as there was a better focus in the team and from the restart Old Penarthians were on the attack with territory in the Tongwynlais twenty-two through a good break by Chad Wilson supported by Alex Cook.

From the ensuing scrum Penarthians drove Tongwynlais towards their line and from a pick up by deClaire, Clancy was able to spin through the last tackle to score a try.  Crimp converted to make the score 12 – 3 after 7 minutes.

Four minutes later the team were back on the attack after a good kick from Crimp pressurised the Tongwynlais defence, Davey caught the ball to recycle to Sadler who passed to Wilson who was bundled into touch ten metres from the tryline.  At the lineout deClaire stole the ball, Hoskins carried forward set up the ruck and after a few passes in the three-quarters Davey scored wide out.

On 14 minutes Gore scored the bonus point try under the posts after more good work by the forwards and Crimp added the conversion for a 24 point to 3 lead.  That was however the last of the real attacking play and it was left until the 39th minute of the half for Crimp to add a penalty from in front of the posts for a final score of 27 – 3.

The teams do not have scheduled fixtures for next weekend, but instead it will be a great opportunity for the players and spectators to gather at the club to watch Wales against South Africa in their quarter-final match of the Rugby World Cup.  Wales obviously have left themselves with much to do after their hard fought loss to Australia but they will hope for a similar result to the last time they played the Springboks at the Millennium Stadium which was a win for Wales.  The kick off is at 4.00pm.