Fixture

After a six-week period of inactivity due to heavy rain and poor pitch conditions Old Penarthians 1^st XV sprung back into action at home last week with a 29 – 22 victory against Llandaff North in a Division 4 East Central league fixture.  The result earned the team four league points for the victory and a bonus point for scoring four tries. Old pens are still uncomfortably within the four-team relegation places but closed the gap on the club above them, Pontycymer, to two points.  It means that the away fixture in two weeks’ time has real significance for the rest of the season.

The Llandaff North fixture did not get off to the best of starts when the visitors, playing with a strong wind in their favour, took the lead after three minutes through a penalty from Brecon Burnett. Penarthians were however not disheartened and were soon on the attack willing to run the ball on every occasion. One promising attack from deep saw Rory Hone and Rhys Lakin make ground before sending Ieuan Harris away. Unfortunately, his delayed pass to Rickie Moir went forward into touch and the move broke down.

Two minutes later an attack launched by Rhys Lakin in midfield proved productive and after breaking the gain line the move was moved on by Matt Stingl.  Pressure from the forwards near the tryline then saw Jost Allcock burrow forward for a try. Captain Jonathan Crimp converted and after 13 minutes Old Pens led 7-3.

On 30 minutes, repeat penalties by the visitors led to the award of a yellow card and Crimp stepped forward for a successful penalty goal and three points

Directly from the kick off Tom Sidford caught the ball and passed to the supporting Andy Gill to set up a ruck.  Surprisingly quick service from Gareth Clancy gave Jake Thomas room to pass on to Lakin.  He made ground before Hone broke the defensive line to set Harris free for a run along the touchline and a try that was unconverted but gave Old Pens a 15-3 lead.

The next kick off was not caught by an Old Penarthian player and was collected by a North player. He went into contact but as the ball was recycled a knock on was picked up by Josh Allcock who ran forward to find support from Crimp and his fellow threequarters who sent Moir free down the touchline.  As the last defender tried to force him wider Moir found an inside pass to James Reynolds and the hooker sprinted in from 25m to score under the posts. The conversion from Crimp was successful.

Another kick off and another try.  Again, the kick off was caught by Sidford but instead of setting the ball up through the forwards, passes put Hone through a gap and he touched down under the posts after a 55m run.  Crimp converted and Penarthians led 29-3.  This spectacular period of play was finished in a slightly farcical way when a penalty was awarded to Old Penarthians in their own twenty-two.  Coach Thomas took the penalty to himself and whist intending to kick the ball out of play over the goal line only managed to hit the upright and for the ball to land in the goal area.  An embarrased Thomas was however the first to the ball to touch it down and end the half smiling.

As spectators were just about thinking of a painless second half and more enterprising rugby Old Penarthians almost immediately shot themselves in the foot when firstly Clancy was shown a yellow card for making a tackle within 10m of a quickly taken penalty and then three minutes later Moir was shown a red card for retaliation after an altercation between the players.

The numerical advantage in favour of the visitors led to a try by their number eight on 15 mins which was not converted.

The management team led by James Williams then made some changes with Alex Lewis replacing the injured Rowan Allcock and Elliot Dyment-Salmon replacing Josh Allcock as Clancy also returned to the action.

And it was Penarthains who were next on the attack with a clean line out catch that was set up as a rolling maul.  The maul was well organised and drove 25m up the field to within sight of the tryline, only for it to be collapsed by the defenders but out of sight of the referee. The move continued without the award of a penalty and the ball was adjudged to have been held up over the line for a relieving drop out to Llandaff North.

Penarthains were soon back on the attack and on 25 mins a scrum five metres out from the tryline was picked up and driven forward.  The forwards regrouped and when Henry Kynaston (on for Clancy) passed to Sidford his pass to Thomas saw the player/coach score in the corner, only for the referee to consider that pass to be forward and negate the try

The remainder of the game was not so pleasing for the Penarthians spectators as tiredness and injuries saw a lack lustre approach to the last 10 minutes and Llandaff North surged back to score two converted tries to make the score 29-22. This scoreline could have been worse in the last minute except for a try-saving tackle by Hone and some determined defence from Old Pens to hold out for the bonus point win

The next Od Penarthians league fixture will be on 23^rd March away to Pontycymer after the last round of Six Nations matches on 16^th March which will see Wales play their must-win match against a rejuvenated Italy.