Fixture

Old Pens win first home game of the season

Old Penarthians 33  Llandridnod Wells 20

The Old Pens were able to field a strong squad for the first home game of the season, despite the fact that there were six first team players unavailable, and welcomed their opponents Llandridnod Wells as visitors to the club for the first time.

The opening exchanges between the sides indicated both sides wanted to play open attacking rugby however due to early season rustiness a number of basic errors crept into the game and any territory gained by either side was very quickly lost. After 10 minutes, the Old Pens backs decided they wanted to spread the ball but unfortunately a dropped pass allowed the opposition winger to run from his 10 metres to score which was easily converted to give the visiting side a seven point lead after 10 minutes.

From the kickoff the home side conceded a penalty for a high tackle which enabled the opposition to mount an attack deep in the home 22. Further advances were only prevented by strong defence from captain Tom Sidford and a relieving kick from Josh Preece.

Two further penalties given away by the home side allowed the opposition to exert pressure which was eventually ended when returning Jonathan Crimp,  Rowan Allcock and Ritchie Moir combined to run the ball out of their half and into the opposition 22. Unfortunately, another penalty was conceded which allowed the opposition to clear their lines.

An injury to James Reynolds then resulted in Joel deClare coming on and his many years of experience immediately had effect upon the pack who started to dominate proceedings with both backs and forwards combining to apply pressure to the try line

Smart inter play between Laithan Coombs and Josh Preece gave the side territory and enabled deClare and Crimp to combine and feed the ball to Moir who eventually released Josh Preece to score.  The try was converted by Crimp to make the score 7 points all after 33 minutes.

The score appeared to give the home side confidence and following a lengthy kick by Preece into the opposition 22 a penalty was awarded which was converted by Crimp to give the home side a 10-7 lead. With halftime rapidly approaching Ieuan Harris and Rowan Allcock combined to take the attack into the opposition 22 where  forward pressure resulted in Llandridnod  Wells conceding a  penalty which Crimp converted to give a half-time lead of 13 points to 7.

Halftime changes saw the return of James Reynolds for deClare and Stingl replaced by Liam Brooks. An early penalty to the Old Pens was well converted by Crimp taking the lead to 16 points to 7. This advantage was quickly thrown away by conceding a penalty straight from the kickoff which the opposition outside half easily converted to bring the score to 16 points to 10.

More changes were forced upon the home side when Coombs and Haines were forced to retire injured and replaced by Jon deClaire and Mark  Sadler. The Following 10 minutes saw some extravagant backs play by the home side but a number of silly mistakes gave away a number of penalties in the opposition 22 which allowed the defending side to relieve pressure. The next injury was to Rowan Allcock and this resulted in a change of position for most of the backs with Preece going to outside half, Gareth Clancy going to scrum half, Crimp to Centre, Christie to full back and Harris onto the wing.

Most sides  would have been disrupted by the changes, but it seemed to galvanize the home side who continued to play expensive attacking rugby but were repeatedly punished by the referee.

From one of the penalties a successful penalty kick brought the score 16-13 after 60 minutes and a game that should’ve been dominated by the home side could’ve gone either way.

More changes then took place with the energetic Elliot Salmon suffering an illegal knee to the face, somehow missed by the referee, being replaced by Joel deClaire and Stingl back on instead of Brooks. With15 mins left to play the forwards decided to take control and following a number of drives to the line by Sidford and Stingl scrum half Clancy was driven over to score. This try was converted by Crimp to make it 23-13.

The next try was a well worked backs move with good passing along the line to create space for Christie to go over and score. The conversion was missed but a score of 28-13 brought some relief to a nervous home crowd.

Ten minutes to go and more changes were needed when Greenfield was replaced by Brooks, Joel deClaire replaced by Smart and Crimp replaced by Alcock. Smart was immediately into the game and following a maul on the home side’s 10 metre line he ripped the ball from the opposing pack and fed Preece who scored, a contender for try of the season by running from his own 10 metre  line, side stepping most of the opposition backs and scoring out wide.

Unfortunately, he was unable to cap an outstanding man-of-the-match performance by converting his own try but it was enough to earn the bonus point and take the lead to 33 points to 13. With a couple of  minutes left to play overconfidence resulted in silly mistakes and weak tackling and allowed the opposition to score the final try of the game to make the final score 33-20

A convincing win in the end for the Old Pens whose side consisted of an exciting blend of experienced players combining well with 6 home grown youth players. Next week sees the first team play another home game against Tref y Clawdd with a scheduled 21.30pm kick off