Fixture

After a successful visit to Llandaff North the previous Saturday, Old Penarthians played host to Llandaff RFC on Saturday 8^th October in their latest WRU National League Division 4 East Central fixture. This was however not to be the positive result that was to be hoped for to build on the team’s two previous victories and the match was lost by 36 points to 5

The game against Llandaff North had been won in the last minute of the match with a touchline conversion by Steffan Crimp after a try by Jake Thomas for a 23-22 victory.  This time however the Old Pens conceded a try in the first minute of the match when straight from the kick off a Llandaff forward caught the ball with no contest from the home team forwards.  He passed to his outside half who speculatively kicked the ball into Old Pens territory. 

The bouncing ball was not fielded by the two defending threequarters and Llandaff collected the ball allowing Tom McNee to cross in the corner.  The conversion was unsuccessful and Llandaff led 5-0

Not the start that would have been wanted and after 12 minutes matters were made worse when influential player/coach Jake Thomas and a Llandaff prop were sent from the field for fighting.

Five minutes later further poor tackling gave Llandaff territory and their dominant pack rolled forward to release David Hume to score.

At this stage there had been little positives for Old Penarthians but eventually the forwards came to life and forward drives by Josh Mellor supported by Tom Sidford and Matt Stingl gave the home team some go-forward. Tomos Hillman was able to get his threequarters moving and from a Jonathan Crimp pass, Chris Poole broke through tackles and only a fine cover tackle on the touchline prevented a score.

Penarthians were back on the attack two minutes later when Joel deClaire drove into midfield with support from Sam Hall and Josh Allcock. An attack down the blindside saw Crimp pass to deClaire and on to Nathan Facey.  He put winger Richie Moir into space and his kick ahead was caught by the covering defender but pressure was maintained and a scrum awarded.  Unfortunately, the Penarthians scrum was second best throughout the afternoon and the attack was nullified.

Llandaff were then moving the ball through their backs and with support from their forwards they encamped in the Old Pens 22.  Eventually the pressure told and on the stroke of half time McNee scored his second try and at the break Llandaff led 15-0.  A scoreline that flattered Old Pens somewhat because Callum Digby had missed three relatively easy conversions.

The second half started as badly as the first and with a missed catch from the kick off and further confusion Ewan Skuse scored Llandaff’s fourth try to earn a bonus point. This time Digby was successful with his kick and Llandaff led 22-0

Penarthians dug deep and with a lineout functioning well from throw-ins by Anthony Pritchard and afterwards James Reynolds, mainly using Josh Allcock as receiver, territory was gained inside the Llandaff twenty-two.  The pressure told and a series of penalties were awarded to the home side which eventually led to Hillman taking a quick tap and passing to Poole who crossed wide out.  The conversion from Rhys Morgan, playing on permit from Penarth, was narrowly wide but Penarthians were on the board.

This was however to be the last positive contribution from Old Pens despite some aggressive defence fronting up to the Llandaff forwards, as fatigue from the constant tackling led to further gaps in defence and Llandaff crossed for two further tries from Mike Connor and Digby with two conversions from Skuse to make a final score of 36-5.

Next Saturday Old Penarthians 1^st XV travel to Caerau Ely in their second fixture of the WRU Division 4 Cup. Kick-off is scheduled for 2.30pm.