Fixture

Saturday 5th September 2015

Last Saturday saw the start of the season for Old Penarthians in Division 3 Central East (C) of the WRU National League structure away to Cardiff Internationals, or as they are always referred, CIACs.  This was a first meeting at senior level for the two teams in a league with a new composition following another reorganisation of the leagues by the Union.

Many will say that last season’s opponents were too strong and that the teams in this new league will be a more appropriate standard however the Club is still ambitious to do well and will seek to regain their former divisional opponents by performances this year.

To that end the Club have recruited two new coaches in Simon Hurley and Anthony Davies in addition to retaining the services of Curtis Taylor and physio John Slack.  A new team manager in Stu Barter and kit man Tommy Evans completes the support service.  It is also hoped the players will have benefited from a preseason conditioning programme from John Bruno.

Pre-season training has been intense and enjoyable with all the players enthusing about the structure of the sessions with the purpose behind the routines clearly explained.  It was therefore with much anticipation that the players arrived at the Marl Playing Fields following a win in a trial game against Pontllanfriath in mid-August.

And all the hard work took only twenty seconds to pay off when a break in mid field by Tim Naylor found winger Mark Sadler on hand to score a try converted by Jonathan Crimp.

This was followed five minutes later by a try from captain Lloyd Davey following more good work from Naylor and Joel deClaire.  From a line out won by Jack Margetson on the right hand side of the field, three phases of play by the forwards led by Sam Hall, Mark Smart and Danny Godfrey saw the ball released by scrum half Gareth Clancy to Rhys Lakin who powered through some weak tackling to score a try from 20m for a 17 -0 scoreline.
More attacking play by the forwards with Margetson, Geraint Blake and deClaire prominent saw two more first half tries from Sadler and Crimp and the team’s first bonus point of the season.  Crimp converted both for a 31 – 0 half time score.

The second half story was very similar to the first with CIACs trying their best but not being able to stop the supply of ball to the Old Pens threequarters.  At times Penarthians appeared to over complicate matters looking for the ‘glory’ pass or off-load but that is being over critical of a team that has not had such a good day since 1st March 2014 in a match against Newport Saracens.

In fact the second half brought four more tries for substitute Alex Cooke (2), Davey and Chad Wilson with Crimp converting three for a final score of 57 – 0.  The backs may have scored all the points but without the hard work of the forwards like Dave Hoskins and Richie Dighton and substitutes Gary Bishop, Jamie Nation and Chris Payne the platform would not have been available to them.

It was a result founded on good overall skill levels and commitment from forwards and backs alike and the coaches would have been able to gauge the strength of the squad as all the substitutes were given some game time.  A more testing time may be expected next week against Ferndale who were also victors by more than fifty points in the first weekend of the season but with further training sessions the existing positive atmosphere can only improve.

In the second XV match played at home against Cardiff Harlequins the result again went in favour of the Old Penarthians with two Steve Thomas penalties and tries from youngster Tony Harries and oldster Alun Haines giving a final score of 16 points to 5.  Players to perform well included Ben Thomas, Matt Craft and Noel Extregary in the forwards with Dean Dacruz, newcomer Jamie Brockless and Tom Parkinson (after he had played hockey) in the threequarters.
Next Saturday sees the firsts at home to Ferndale whilst the seconds travel to Llanishen.  Both matches are scheduled to kick off at 2.30pm.