Fixture

Old Penarthians v Sully Sports Match Report

Wednesday 13th April 2016

With the season drawing to a close it was good to see a substantial sized crowd at Cwrt-y-Vil Playing Fields last Wednesday to see the Old Penarthians play neighbours Sully Sports in a rearranged WRU Division 3 East Central (C) fixture.

The match did not disappoint the home support as the 1st XV ran out winners by 60 points to 13 in an entertaining game that saw the Old Penarthians return to the top of the division by two points over Cardiff Saracens.  Saracens have one game to play but Old Penarthians have two matches remaining, giving them every opportunity to gain the four points they require to secure the league title.

This will be a major achievement for the team that underperformed last season but have bounced back to lose only one league match this term.  The players have to take a lot of the credit themselves but they would be the first to admit that coaches Simon Hurley and Anthony Davies, under the watchful eye of Curtis Taylor, have gelled the players into an effective attacking and defensive unit.

The team have so far scored 514 points, including 95 tries in their 14 matches and conceded only 90 points of which Sully Sports have scored 28 in their two encounters.  Add to this the 104 points scored in the two games against CIACS (without conceding) before the Cardiff team had to withdraw from the league and it can be seen how effective the coaching has been.

Despite this success the team are not over confident and they will not take lightly the league opposition in their last two fixtures when they play away to Cathays RFC on Saturday 23rd April before entertaining Hirwaun RFC at home on 30th April.

It is hoped that the concentration will be sufficient to serve up another performance like that seen against Sully Sports when the team scored 10 tries through Mark Sadler (2), Simon Davies (2), Geraint Blake (2) with individual scores for Tim Naylor, Craig Gore, Gareth Clancy and Chad Wilson.  The scoring was completed by two conversions for Chad Wilson and three from Jonathan Crimp.

It was however a rounded display with backs and forwards combining well and with an ample supply of ball from a platform provided at scrummage and line out by Sam Hall, Richie Dighton, Gary Bishop, Tom Sidford and Alun Haines it gave the opportunity to the back row and threequarters to show off their support play.

Joel deClaire, Wilson and Blake were always prominent but deClaire may have to restrict his clearance kicking in future as it is unlikely that he will give such a well-judged chip again, which in this instance saw Davies collect the miscued kick and race away to score.

Gareth Clancy at scrum half appears to have resolved his sat-nav problems and his passing and kicking was generally in the correct direction.  During the match he had two half-back partners in captain Lloyd Davey and Crimp and both contributed to the performance with Davey making strong runs through midfield and Crimp passing to ensure the threequarters were on the front foot.

Rhys Lakin, whilst not scoring, was an attacking force throughout the match and with Tim Naylor formed a potent attacking partnership that ensured wingers Sadler and Gore received sufficient opportunities to shine.
The substitutes also played their part and it was good to see youngsters Luke Crockett, Rob Rees and Callum Wingren given opportunities whilst Lee Brennan gave stability at the scrum.

Before next Saturday’s fixture with Cathays away at Heath Park in Cardiff the 1st XV will have played a semi-final match in the WRU East District Cup competition against first division opposition Rhiwbina.  It will be a test for the team to see if their performances will match up to more senior opposition and a visit to the club website on http://oldpenarthians.rfc.wales/ will give the result.

The seconds also play their last league fixture of the year against Llandaff North at home on Saturday with a scheduled 2.30pm kick off on the back of two excellent wins.