Fixture

The New Year for Old Penarthians 1^st XV started with a home fixture against fellow Division 4 East Central league strugglers Cefn Coed on a muddy but very playable pitch at Cwrt-y-vil thanks to the efforts of a band of volunteers led by Youth XV Team Manager, John Lewis.  And their efforts were rewarded with a 28-16 victory to see the team rise above their opponents in the table to eighth place.

The game started with the Old Pens being awarded a penalty in their own twenty-two almost straight from the kick off but with what was to be a theme throughout the first half the kick from Crimp failed to reach touch and Cefn Coed were on the attack. The sustained pressure led to a chance at goal on four minutes but the penalty kick was unsuccessful.

On eight minutes a line out throw from James Reynolds was caught by Charlie Wheatley and Jake Thomas carried the ball forward.  He found support from Gareth Clancy and Tom Sidford who passed to prop James Greenfield standing in an unaccustomed position on the wing.  Greenfield decided that his pace would not see him cover the 25m to the tryline so kicked ahead.  The covering Cefn Coed fullback however failed to kick the ball dead and Greenfield fell on the ball for a try.  The kick from Crimp was unsuccessful but Penarthians led 5-0.

Cefn Coed then dominated possession and on 13 minutes a penalty conceded by Old Pens for a hand in the ruck was punished by Nathan Cotterell and the lead was reduced to 5-3

The scrappy nature of the game and the number of penalties being conceded by both teams meant Old Pens had the next opportunity to score and Crimp duly obliged after 16 minutes to restore the five-point cushion

Old Pens were however making far too many errors and it was no surprise that Cefn Coed were awarded another kickable penalty which Cotterell converted and with 5 minutes to half time repeat infringements by the home team meant Anthony Armstrong, playing on permit from Croesyceiliog, was shown a ‘team’ yellow card.  Poor first half performances from both teams meant that the interval scoreline was 8-6 in favour of the home team.

During the break both teams must have been received strong words from their managements as the second half was a much better spectacle to watch with fewer penalties and better decision making by the players.

It was however a mistake that led to the first score of the half after 8 minutes when a kick from open play by Connor Christie was collected by the Cefn Coed defender but his hesitation allowed Christie to charge down his attempt at a clearing kick and Jake Thomas collected the bouncing ball to score a try. Crimp converted and Old Pens led 15-6

Cefn Coed responded with the best try of the match when the ball was spread across the pitch from one side to the other before play returned to the original touchline for hooker Elis Sullivan to score wide out.  The conversion was unsuccessful

Penarthians then dominated territory with good runs from Rhys Lakin, Craig Haines and Christie, with Ieuan Harris nearly escaping along the touchline but was brought down with a good cover tackle.  Crimp was however able to make the advantage pay with a penalty to increase the lead to 18-11

Changes in personnel followed with Henry Kynaston, Rhys Thomas and Alex Lewis replacing Clancy, Richie Moir and Haines respectively. The changes did not however affect the structure that Old Pens were showing and more pressure allowed Crimp to covert a further penalty.

The scoreline was putting pressure on Cefn Coed to be more adventurous themselves but an attempt to run the ball out from their own goal line resulted in a five-metre scrum to Old Pens.  The scrum held firm and Jake Thomas broke to the blindside.  He passed to Kynaston, who offloaded to Christie who made ground and passed to Josh Allcock. Kynaston was then in support to take the next pass to score a try which was converted by Crimp.

Penarthians may have thought that was to be the final score, especially when the resulting restart failed to go the requisite 10m but from the ensuing Penarthian scrum Cefn Coed gained possession and with two quick passes outside half Adam Harvey was released on a 50m run to the tryline.  The conversion was missed and with little time remaining Old Pens manged the clock with good tight forward play and won the match 28-16

Old Penarthians next 1^st XV game is away to Brackla on Saturday 13^th January with a kick-off scheduled for 2.30pm.  It is hoped that the team’s recent good run of form, which has seen three victories in the last four matches, can continue against the team currently in third place in the league.