Fixture

Last Saturday saw Old Penarthians 1^st XV play their first WRU National League Division 4 East Central league fixture at home since 8^th October 2022.  In the intervening twenty-week period the team has only played six matches due to Autumn Internationals, poor weather, frozen pitches and now the Six Nations Tournament.  This is not the ideal situation to provide a habit for players to continue to play rugby and may be one of the reasons that there are now fewer players committing to play the sport in Wales (and the rest of the UK) than even five years ago.

The absence of matches leads to rustiness and lack of fluency in the games that are played and that was certainly evident in the most recent game against fellow league strugglers Llandaff North.  The game was littered with errors and niggles and a general lack of cohesion as both sides tried to find a way to overcome their opponents.

The final drawn result at 5-5 just about summed up the afternoon and whilst there was a reasonable crowd watching the game no one could really have left satisfied.

This was quite the opposite to the optimism at the start of the game when the team and substitutes selected in mid-week were all available at kick-off time leaving coach Jake Thomas, team manager James Williams and captain Jon Crimp able to concentrate on preparations rather than their mobile phones trying to organise a team

That optimism was assisted within seven minutes when an illegal ‘dump’ tackle on Crimp by a Llandaff North flanker led to a yellow card, which could well have been red. Penarthians soon took advantage or their numerical superiority and following drives by Tom Sidford, Joel deClaire and Josh Mellor deft passing by Tomos Hillman and James Reynolds saw Thomas crash over in the corner after 12 minutes to score a try.  The conversion by Nathan Facey was however wide but Penarthians led 5-0

They were to hold that scoreline until half time although the best play of the half by the Old Pens nearly resulted in a length-of-the-pitch try.  From a defensive kick from under his own posts Rhys Morgan did not find touch but alert winger James Williams caught the bouncing ball and running into contact stayed on his feet until support arrived.  The ball was then spread into midfield where the move was continued through Luke Crockett and Mellor.

When recycled the ball went from Crimp to Rhys Lakin who barrelled through the opposition centres to create space for Rowen Allcock.  He returned the pass to Lakin who continued deep into the opposition twenty-two.  An unfortunate stumble five metres from the try line meant that a covering Llandaff North player was able to tackle him into touch and prevent a spectacular team try.

The second half started with anther yellow card shown to a Llandaff North player but this time Old Pens could not take advantage. It was however just after his return to the play that Penarthians created their best chance of the half when again Lakin made ground in midfield.  Support was on hand and after several close quarter drives space was created out wide on the left hand side of the pitch.  Good handling would have resulted in a walk-in unopposed try but a forward pass in midfield with two men spare on the outside meant the move was stopped.

Ironically three minutes later Llandaff North had one of their rare visits into the home twenty-two but came away with a try from Gareth Harrison which went unconverted

Penarthians came back on the attack and both Andrew Gill, twice, and Scott Mackie, on as substitutes, made good inroads through the opposition defensive lines but final passes went astray.  Pressure was however maintained and a penalty kick at goal was missed which would have given Penarthians the lead.

Still Penarthians remained in opposition territory but a series of quickly taken penalties and forward charges at the line could not overcame a determined defence.  There was the possibility of a final penalty kick at goal with three minutes remaining but it was decided to keep the ball tight and the ensuing drives from Sidford, deClaire, Louis Chandler and Thomas were all repulsed until at last Crockett got over the tryline but could not ground the ball and the referee blew his whistle to finish the match at 5-5

There will be a club fixture, featuring a mix of 2^nd XV and Youth team players, on Saturday in advance of the Wales v England international with a kick off at 12.30pm.  The next league fixture for the 1^st XV is away to Llandaff on 4^th March.