Fixture

Match Result:  Old Penarthians 25 Ferndale 25

At last, a home fixture for the Old Penarthians Mens 1^st XV.  A month into the season and after three defeats in Division 4 East Central, Old Pens welcomed fellow strugglers Ferndale to  Cwrt-y-vil last Saturday.

It was a game that Old Pens were hoping would kick start their season but the eventual result of a draw brought some hard-earned league points and was probably a reflection of the tightness of the game in which neither side dominated for any length of time.

Throughout the eighty minutes both teams had opportunities to win and the lead changed hands six times during the course of the game but not even the news that absent captain Jon Crimp had become a father halfway through the match could inspire an Old Pens victory

It was in fact Crimp’s replacement at outside half, Nathan Facey, who kicked the first penalty of the game after 10 mins when a penalty award to Ferndale was reversed for ‘back-chat’ allowing Facey the opportunity

As is often the case the Old Pens could not control the following restart handing Ferndale the advantage that they sought to drive home through their forwards.  Old Pens defence was however firm led by strong tackling from, Elliot Dyment-Salmon, Jake Thomas and Joel deClaire and the pressure was released.

Ferndale were however soon back on the attack through their forwards and despite resisting three close to the line penalties, Penarthians line was breached on 20 minutes by a smart dive by scrum half Rhys Jones. The conversion by Keiran Parish was successful and Ferndale led 7-3

Penarthians fought back and with territorial advantage a penalty kick to the corner led to a lineout 10m form the Ferndale tryline.  An accurate throw by James Reynolds was caught by Charles Wheatley and the forwards used their combined weight to drive Tom Sidford over the line for a try and an 8-7 lead

On 28 minutes good threequarter play by Rhys Thomas and Rory Hone exposed a gap in the Ferndale defence and Craig Haines sped through from 25m to score under the posts. Facey converted and Old Pens led 15-7

Ferndale then returned to the attack, again through their forwards, and after a period of sustained pressure and repeated penalty offences from the home team Dyment-Salmon was shown a yellow card. During his absence Ferndale took advantage and scrum half Jones scored another try just before half time for a 15-12 lead to Old Penarthians

The second half started with a Ferndale penalty success by Parish on 5 minutes to level the score and soon afterwards the home team introduced Tom Paterson, son of former Penarthians scrum half Terry, as a replacement for Matt Stingl, to join fellow Dinas Powis permit player Mike Jones in a strong competitive front row.

Other changes during the half saw Alex Lewis replace James Williams and Mark Sadler bring his dive-passing scrum half skills to the field last seen four years ago as a replacement for Richie Moir.

It was however Ferndale who levelled the scores on 18 minutes through a second Parish penalty before another good line out catch, this time by Josh Allcock saw the forwards combine to allow Dyment-Salmon to score an unconverted try.

The 22-18 lead was only to last for five minutes when further Ferndale forward drives saw Justin Rees score a try and Parish convert for a three-point visitors’ lead.

Penarthians returned to the attack and Connor Christie was set free down the touchline but his final pass failed to reach Williams on the outside.  Then with three minutes of the match remaining a penalty was awarded to Old Pens in front of the posts and after much discussion stand-in captain Sidford, who wanted to restart with a dominant scrum, was over-ruled and a kick at goal was chosen. The successful kick by Facey concluded the scoring and the final score was 25-25.

Whilst Wales play Georgia in their last pool game at the RWC at 2.00pm on Saturday Old Penarthians do not have a fixture.  There is also some doubt about their next scheduled away fixture against Cefn Coad on 14^th Oct because of a potential clash with a Wales quarter final match to be played at the same time.  Please see the club social media outlets for details.