Fixture

Like London buses, after one arrives another comes along straight after it and that was the case for Old Penarthians 1^st XV when one successful result was followed immediately by a second, with a hard-fought victory at home against Ynysowen last weekend by 19 points to 15 in their Division 4 East Central league fixture.

The game could not have started in a better fashion when from an Old Pens kick off on a bright chilly afternoon, the ball was caught cleanly by an Ynysowen forward who went into contact but in the tackle from Rhys Thomas the ball went forward into the hands of on-loan Croesyceiliog second row Anthony Armstrong.  He gratefully accepted the gift, broke a tackle and ran in under the posts from 25m to score a try. Captain, Jonathan Crimp converted and Old Pens were 7 points up inside 2 minutes.

If the home side thought that was going to make for an easy game it was far from it, with Ynysowen always maintaining a threat through their forwards.  For once however Penarthians at least held parity at the scrum with James Greenfield, James Reynolds and Tom Sidford forming a solid front row and with the added weight of Armstrong and seasonal debutant Josh Mellor it meant that the back row of Jake Thomas, Rhys Thomas and Joel deClaire, playing his 201^st game for the 1^st XV, could establish some control.

This allowed Mark Sadler at scrum half to free the threequarters and allow centres Rhys Lakin and Craig Haines to make ground in midfield.  From one of these moves which spread across the field Rory Hone was well tackled into touch about 10m from the try line.

It was however Ynysowen who were to open their account through Adam Pike on 17 minutes after a penalty was awarded for a high tackle.

Penarthians were soon back on the attack and from another sweeping move and with a try possible an Ynysowen player was yellow carded for a deliberate knock on.  A kick to the corner led to a lineout and a series of drives but Greenfield, Thomas and Mellor could not get over the tryline.  The pressure told however and from a quickly taken penalty taken under the posts by deClaire, a pass to Sidford and on to Haines led to a further pass to overlapping full back Ieuan Harris to score his fourth try in three games.  Crimp converted and the half time score was 14-3 in favour of the home team.

Unfortunately, just before the break veteran Sadler went down injured to be replaced by 22-year-old Henry Kynaston making his senior debut and only his second game of rugby since an 11-year-old M&J player.

The second half started in much the same fashion as the first with a try within three minutes. This was a genuine team effort with forwards combining in midfield with drives from Mellor, Sidford deClaire and Greenfield before releasing Crimp to pass to Lakin. In turn he found Jake Thomas who quickly passed to Hone who beat the cover defence to score a try in the corner. The conversion from Crimp was just wide of the posts. Old Pens led 19-3

This was however to be one of the only attacking highlights for Old Penarthians in the second half as most of the period was to be an attritional battle played mostly in their own twenty-two with little release.

The pressure exerted by the driving Ynysowen forwards led to a series of penalties, mostly taken quickly to maintain momentum which in turn forced Reynalds to infringe one too many times and be shown a yellow card.  With numerical advantage Ynysowen scored an unconverted try through Dewi Morris and the scores closed to 11 points.

Matters got worse six minutes later when another debutant, Jacob Julien, on as a replacement for the injured James Willimas was also shown a yellow card for not retreating 10m from another quickly taken Ynysowen penalty, reducing the team to thirteen players

The defence held firm until the return of Reynolds but on 32 minutes Jack Forrest scored a try converted by Pike and the difference was only 4 points.

At this point the home supporters thought their team was imploding but the defensive effort of the whole  team fought through the trauma and the tackling, led by Sidford, Mellor, substitute Mark Smart, Lakin and Crimp, was strong and disciplined and eventually the referee, who in the opinion of both teams handled the game very well, blew for full time and a Penarthian win by 19-15.

On Saturday, Old Penarthians 1^st XV are again at home, this time against unbeaten table-topping Llantwit Major.  Kick-off is scheduled for 2.30pm