Fixture

Last Saturday the Old Penarthians 1^st XV travelled to Ynysowen for their latest WRU National League Division 4 East Central fixture.  The game was to be the first since elected captain Chris Poole stepped down due to current work and family commitments and his nominated replacement Jonathan Crimp was also unavailable, meaning that Craig Haines took over the captaincy.

Further disruption was caused following the late withdrawal of several other senior players due to injury and work and the team were forced to make the decision that the only viable option was to commence the game with passive scrums. This meant that the team had to start with 14 players and only have two substitutes on the bench.

However, the match will not be remembered for the absent players but for the commitment and effort made by the participating players who were proud to wear the Club shirt in what was eventually a 36 - 10 defeat, but with a scoreline skewed by late points by the home side when the Old Penarthians ran out of steam.

The first ten minutes of the match saw both sides testing out each other by playing the long-range kicking game with Rhys Morgan and Nathan Facey proving the most effective giving the Old Pens plenty of territory but unfortunately handling errors let the side down at crucial moments.

After 15 minutes Ynysowen managed to win a line out in the opposition twenty-two and spread the ball wide exploiting the Old Penarthians lack of numbers. Strong covering tackles by backrow Jake Thomas and Rhys Thomas halted the attack, only for the ball to be recycled quickly and Ynysowen scored a try in the corner which was converted from the touchline.

Undaunted old Penarthians continued to run the ball at the opposition with centres Craig Haines and Ritchie Moir proving particularly effective. This eventually resulted in a penalty which was converted by Facey to make the score 7 points to 3

This score gave encouragement to the pack who took the ball from the kick-off and quickly feed Morgan who kicked the ball long forcing the Ynysowen full back to drop the ball. From the resultant scrum Old Pens applied more pressure and were unlucky not to score when the ball went quickly along the back line with winger Rowan Allcock being bundled into touch.

The commitment of all the players but in particular the forwards forced Ynysowen to continue with the kicking game and after a defensive error Ynysowen were awarded a penalty in front of the posts which resulted in the home team increasing their lead.

Further pressure and a period of continuous attacking play stretched the visitor’s defence with play flowing from one touchline to the other, with a try out wide only being prevented by excellent tackling by Allcock and James Williams.

Unfortunately, James Williams injured his shoulder in the tackle and had to be replaced by Rhys Goodfellow coming on in the unusual position of second row.

As the first half ended Facey made a clean break, running into the opposition twenty-two but a knock-on allowed the defending fullback to make a lengthy clearance kick. This resulted in a no-arms tackle by one of the Penarthians forwards and a quick tap penalty with the Ynysowen hooker running through to score under the posts. Making the half-time score  17 – 3.

The second half did not start well when from the kick-off an Ynysowen attack resulted in their centre finding an extra man on the outside who sidestepped the covering defence to feed their prop who despite being well tackled short of the line by Ben Ewington managed to reach out and score.

The visiting forwards were determined to take the fight to their bigger opponents and following a Facey penalty kick into the opposition 22 they repeatedly tried to force their way over the try line only for James Reynolds, Jake Thomas and Josh Mellor all to be stopped short.

Alcock was injured and replaced by Alex Lewis who himself only lasted ten minutes before he had a head injury to be replaced by the returning Rowan Alcock who clearly benefiting from his rest quickly got himself back into the speed of the game and raced down the touchline before putting in a delicate chip and catching the bounce to go over and score a try. The conversion by Facey was successful.

Despite the scoreline the match was still very even with plenty of attacking intent from scrum-half Tom Hillman and outside of Morgan creating several opportunities.

With ten minutes left the pace of the game was starting to have an effect and on a muddy pitch a defensive slip allowed Ynysowen room to run in a try under the posts for a 31-10 lead. Then with a minute left to play and tiredness having eventually caught up with all the players the Ynysowen forwards were able to rumble through the middle of the pitch creating space for a final unconverted try to be scored out wide. The final score being 36-10