Fixture

After two Saturdays of inactivity Old Penarthians travelled  to the top of the Rhondda Fawr to play Treherbert in a Specsavers Division 3SE Central (B) league fixture and on a miserable cold afternoon of wind and swirling rain came home smiling after a 13 points to 7 victory.

The weather conditions dictated the style of play and it was a game dominated by forward drives and rugged defence. It was not a match for the feint hearted either with both eights very committed at the contact area.  To their credit Old Penarthians won this battle except for the first ten minutes of both halves.

The game started with Old Pens playing with the elements at their backs but with Treherbert in the ascendancy.  Only good defence by the whole team kept the opposition at bay and one steal in particular by Stuart Clarke at a maul, followed by two penalty awards allowed Old Pens to keep a clean sheet.

It was then the turn of the visitors to attack and drives led by Louis Chandler, Tom Sidford and James Roach gave them territory. The result was a penalty in front of the posts and Nathan Facey slotted the kick for a 3-0 lead after 18 minutes

From the kick-off Sidford caught the ball and made 10m.  He was supported by Peter Bennett and Sam Hall and with the ball quickly recycled by Tom Hillman, Jon Crimp hoisted a high up and under.  The Treherbert full back dropped the ball and when Josh Allcock collected the rebound with support from Clarke and Chandler the ball was passed to Liam Bevan who neatly put a grubber kick through to find touch 10m from the home team’s tryline.

Penarthians maintained the pressure and after a series of tryline drives by the forwards Treherbert infringed on the 5m line.  Stand-in captain Chris Poole reacted quickly and took a tap penalty. He was tackled short but twisted around in the contact to score.  Facey converted and Penarthians led 10-0.

This was to be the half time score although Facey did have another opportunity with a long-range penalty that hit the upright.

The second half was always going to be a battle and it was quite literally that when Rowan Allcock and the Treherbert second row were both shown yellow cards after a touch line altercation after 10 minutes. The resulting penalty was awarded to Treherbert and they kicked for touch for a lineout 10m from the Penarthians line.  The line out was taken cleanly and Treherbert drove forward for Elliot Hughes to score and the scrum half to convert for a 10-7 scoreline

At this early part of the half Penarthians teams in the past may have wavered but this side has a strong determination and dug in.  The forwards’ lineout drills worked well with hooker Bennett consistently finding his jumpers, James Beaton, Clarke and Josh Allcock. The driving maul was also an effective weapon retaining the ball the and taking time off the clock.

Added to this the back-line defence was strong with good tackling when required by Crimp, Poole and Bevan.  Bevan was also able to carry the ball strongly when opportunities arose and he was nominated as the man of the match by sponsors Wild Water Group.

Winger Ben Donovan was also able to show his paces with runs out of defence to relieve pressure.

With substitutes Joel deClaire, Scott Mackie and Dan Hobson, playing on permit from Sully View RFC, also contributing the performance was maintained.  Penarthians were in fact on top at the end of the match and with a successful Facey penalty in the dying seconds the final whistle blew for a 13-7 victory

This Saturday the 1^st XV are away to Caerau Ely with the 2^nd XV looking for an opposition for a home fixture. Kick-offs are scheduled for 2.30pm.