Fixture

After the thrills of beating title chasers Treherbert the week before, last Saturday brought the Old Penarthians 1^st XV back to reality with a hard fought and perhaps fortuitous win over relegation threatened Llandaff North in WRU league Division 3 East Central (B). 

The final score in favour of Old Penarthians by 20 points to 17 reflected the closeness of the contest with the result in the balance until the last kick of the game when a penalty from in front of the posts from 35m was missed by the North outside half Rob Sweetman.

The game had started positively for Old Pens with the team dominating both territory and possession and after 8 minutes a lineout won by James Roach from a David Cooper throw was well caught.  Tomos Hillman passed to Nathan Smith who kicked deep into the Llandaff North twenty-two. 

 The fullback knocked on and a strong scrum from the front row of Sam Hall, Cooper and Fairwater permit player, Jordon McDonnell, gave good possession to the threequarters.  Smith put Liam Bevan into midfield and with strong leg drive and support from Jon Crimp they crossed the tryline, but the ball could not be grounded.

 Pressure was maintained but a score would not come as Llandaff North proved to be difficult to break down. The home side gained in confidence and were now launching their own attacks.  In fact, from a series of attacking lineouts only good defence by Matt Sutton, Scott Mackie and Hall and a vital turn over by Joel deClaire kept the game scoreless.

The first opportunity for points came after 28 minutes when Nathan Facey missed a penalty kick.  From the restart Penarthians defensive chase of the ball was not accurate and Llandaff North broke through.  Penarthians could only stop the forward progress by conceding a penalty and Sweetman stepped up to kick three points.

This was something against the run of play but from the kick off the ball was caught by the North flanker who ran 60m almost unopposed before being tackled by Facey.  It was a definite sign that Penarthians were going to have to fight for the victory.

Crimp missed a penalty on 35 minutes and it was not until the 38 minute that Penarthians produced their best move of the half when a line out won by Josh  Allcock was quickly passed across the back line to release winger John Patterson who was brought down short of the tryline. Half time was reached with Old Pens trailing 3 – 0.

The second half started with another missed penalty attempt by Facey but on 8 minutes from a positive scrum inside the opposition half Hillman gave a sharp pass to Smith who put Rhys Lakin on a direct line into the opposition.  He broke through three tackles and as he approached the twenty-two passed inside to supporting centre Bevan who scored a try for Facey to convert and give Penarthians a 7 – 3 lead

This was to be Hillman’s last action as he was replaced by Gareth Clancy and at the same time Adan Cole, returning from injury, replaced Mackie

Penarthians did not control the restart and the home team were back on the attack.  The pressure was then turned into points when Jack Wiggins scored a try which Sweetman converted and Penarthians were once again in arrears.

Old Pens continued to be frustrated and were not at their cohesive best but a kick to touch found good territory inside the opposition twenty-two.  The line out was won cleanly and the pack mauled the ball forward.  Facey joined the effort and it was he who emerged from the pile of bodies with the try.  Facey converted for a 14 – 10 lead.

Llandaff North were however not to be denied and after five minutes of concerted forward pressure on the visitor’s tryline which was repelled with some fine defensive work by both forwards and backs it was from loose play that Mike Wallace chipped ahead and raced to win the touchdown.  Sweetman converted and Llandaff North led 17 – 14

The kick off from Smith was good and under pressure a North player knocked the ball forward.  It was picked up by one of his colleagues in an offside position and from 35m Facey slotted the kick to square the scores.

With three minutes remaining Penarthians were awarded another penalty for a ruck infringement and Facey was again successful to lead by three points

With the game concluding a missed kick to touch and an ill-advised pass in midfield by deClaire led to the last gasp missed penalty by Llandaff North for Old Pens to hold on to the victory.

This Saturday Old Penarthians 1^st team are at home to Wattstown, whilst the 2^nd XV travel to Taffs Well for their first league fixture of 2019. Both games kick off at 2,30pm.