Fixture

Old Penarthians played their second game at home in two weeks in WRU Division 3 East Central (B) last weekend.  This time the opposition were Caerau Ely and unfortunately the result went in favour of the visitors by 22 points to 12 in a fractious game that saw three yellow cards.  The offences were relatively minor but reflected the nature of the contest that was interrupted on many occasions by verbal indiscipline.

At times both sides tried to play some decent rugby but the general air of confrontation meant that the referee had a tough afternoon keeping order but one that he managed well.

In an all too familiar start to games at the moment Old Penarthians showed a lackadaisical approach to the match day preparation which leads to mistakes and last Saturday was no exception. The kick-off by Caerau did not travel the required 10m but was played by an Old Pens player and Caerau pounced on the opportunity.

A penalty was awarded and Caerau kicked for territory. The line out was won and driven 10m for another penalty award.  From the resulting play the Caerau outside half kicked ahead and claimed the try diving through the legs of the defending Penarthians.  The conversion was good and inside three minutes the visitors led 7-0.

The Caerau scrum was proving strong and after only 6 minutes hooker AJ Jones was taken off injured to be replaced by Josh Mellor, coming on to prop, with Anthony Pritchard moving to the centre of the front row.

The additional bulk of Mellor did stabilise the scrummaging but Penarthians were always under pressure in this phase of the game. This meant that set piece play was limited and the strength of the team through the threequarters was minimised.  That said opportunities did arise and Ben Donovan, Evan Morgan, Jon Crimp all made inroads into the Caerau defence but the side could not take full advantage.

On 25 mins the first of the yellow cards was shown to the Caerau no 8 and eight minutes later further Caerau indiscipline led to a second card.  From a short tap penalty Joel deClaire charged forward with support from Pritchard, Tim Downing and Lloyd Clarke (playing on permit from Penarth).  The play continued through the forwards and eventually the ball was released to Steffan Crimp and he passed to Jon Crimp, who choosing to ignore the outside support used his weight to drive over the line to score a try.  Steffan Crimp converted and the scores were tied at 7 all.

From the kick-off deClaire collected and kicked up field. From the line out Penarthians claimed the ball and moved across field trying to take advantage of the numerical superiority.  Field position was gained and a blind side move saw Jon Crimp pass to Chris Poole who broke the tackle and at the same time off-load to winger Alex Lewis.  Unfortunately, this week Lewis could not hold on to the ball and a potential try in the corner was  lost.

With a half time score of 7-7, Penarthians were very much in the match which had otherwise been dominated by Caerau but the second half was a turgid affair with Caerau’ s forwards dominating and Old Pens rarely escaping their own half.  Eventually the pressure told and after three attempts at a push over scrummage Caerau scored an unconverted try. A penalty in front of the posts followed and Caerau led 15-7

Then a Caerau kick out of defence was uncharacteristically dropped by Poole and when the ball went forward it was touched by Morgan in an offside position. The resulting penalty was quickly taken by the scrum half who chipped ahead, gathered the bouncing ball and scored a try.  The conversion was successful.

In the final few minutes Penarthians through caution to the wind and ran the ball from their own 22 releasing Poole who sprinted 50m up the left-hand touchline.  He was tackled but the ball was retained and the pressure continued.  Two carries into midfield by Jake Thomas and Jerome Bryan set up territory and when the ball was recycled by Gareth Clancy a neat tip pass from Beaton saw Morgan score a try in the corner. 

This was to be one of the final plays of the game and gave some comfort in a loss by 22-12.

The next fixture for the Old Penarthians 1^st XV is the annual Boxing Day match against Penarth which this year is to be played at the Athletic Field with a 12 noon kick off