Fixture

For the first game of the new decade Old Penarthians travelled north to Ynysowen in the Merthyr Valley to play their latest fixture in Specsavers Division 3 East Central (B).  After the thrills of the previous week this was a dour performance with the referee’s whistle dominating proceedings, however the visitors prevailed, coming home with a 10-5 victory

The game was also disrupted because the Old Pens were unable to field a fully trained  front row and had to play the game with passive scrums.  The off-field management team had tried hard to avoid this situation and had recruited Cardiff student Malin Patel but were unable otherwise to overcome the loss of Tom Sidford, Peter Bennett and Sam Hall.

This meant that Joel deClaire had to take up an unaccustomed role of prop with Matt Sutton coming in at number 8.  James Beaton also returned to the forwards to join James Roach in the second row.  Josh Allcock, Louis Chandler, Luke Crockett completed the pack.

The threequarters were given a boost by the return of Nathan Smith and he tested his shoulder injury with two crunching first half tackles on opposition players.

It was however a stop-start game with little fluency, although most of the constructive play came from Old Penarthians.  Two attacks in particular showed backs and forwards combing well with first Smith interpassing with Beaton and Allcock and then Liam Bevan, Jon Crimp making inroads in the defence with support from Crockett and deClaire.  Crocket was later to be awarded the spectators’ man of the match awarded presented by Shepherd Sharpe

It was however Ynysowen who scored first from a forward drive, when the Old Pens numbers had been reduced following a yellow card shown to Chandler, before winger Martin Jones scored a try in the corner. The kick was unsuccessful but Ynysowen led 5-0 after 20 minutes.

Penarthians continued to attack but on too many occasions were penalised by the referee allowing Ynysowen to relieve the pressure.  A penalty decision was however awarded in favour of the visitors as half time approached and Nathan Facey slotted the three points for a 5-3 interval scoreline.

Penarthians continued to play the better rugby in the second half but were met with stubborn Ynysowen midfield defence and chances were limited.  As the home side tired however, more spaces became available and these were exploited well by Rhys Lakin, Bevan and Chris Poole but a scoring breakthrough could not be achieved.

Old Pens were dominating territory and forward drives by Chandler, Roach and Beaton on the tryline were just repelled.  Eventually a move from a scrum and a series of rucks released Poole along the right-hand touchline and he took an aerial route to avoid the defensive tackle and the touch line to score a spectacular try in the corner.  Facey converted and Old Pens led for the first time after 23 minutes.

Penarthians continued to attack and once again Lakin broke through but could not quite release his hands to give a final pass.  On another occasion Bevan made ground from a short pass from Tomos Hillman but as he passed inside to the supporting runner Crimp was tackled off the ball.  Crimp also found himself in space with 30m to run to the tryline but the heavy ground turned his legs to jelly and he failed to make the distance.

In the last five minutes Penarthians felt they had scored two further close-range tries when first Allcock stretched out to score but the referee was unsighted.  Then Beaton also went over the line but the referee had already blown his whistle for an Ynysowen offence without waiting for a potential advantage

Overall, not a ‘pretty’ game but four league points were well earned.

This Saturday the 1^st XV are at home to Cefn Coed, a team they defeated earlier in the season. The scheduled kick off is at 2.30pm