Defence is best form of attack for Seasiders (From Penarth Times)

Defence is best form of attack for Seasiders

St Joseph's 7, Penarth 36

ON A distinctly wintry day at Blackweir, Penarth set out to put last season's disastrous matches with St Joseph's well and truly behind them. Coming straight from an accomplished cup display against second division Beddau, the Seasiders oozed professionalism from the outset against a rough-and-ready opposition.

One-way traffic seemed to be the order of the day early on as the Penarth forwards took charge. A ninth minute line-out and maul gave captain Mike Clare his first try of the afternoon and the number eight followed up 10 minutes later with a drive from the back of a five-metre scrum.

However, the Old Boys had a game plan and they stuck to it. This mostly involved high-intensity rucking and a good deal of spoiling around the fringes.

This really wasn't getting them anywhere, but it certainly stopped the Seasiders in their tracks for the remainder of the half. Since the visitors were playing into the breeze, this didn't seem to worry them too much and St Joseph's effectively sealed their own fate on 40 minutes as one of their second rows launched himself knees-first into a ruck and then persuaded the referee to change yellow to red.

Reduced to 14 men, the hosts stormed on to the offensive at the opening of the second half. Committing all their players except the right wing to the ruck, they camped out on the Penarth line and launched drive after drive for fully ten minutes.

The Seasiders' defence throughout this assault was inspirational and held firm. When they finally broke out decisively on 56 minutes, Danny Brookman was narrowly edged out in the corner, but the spell was well and truly broken. Stealing the ball from the line out, the forwards drove replacement flanker Tom Gent over for a debut try.

There was one more banana skin awaiting the Seasiders as they hurried to consolidate the lead. A flowing threequarter move was abruptly reversed as the final pass fell behind Danny Brookman and the home right wing snaffled the chance, pinning his ears back and sprinting 80 metres to the line.

Penarth seemed rattled for a moment, but St Joseph's were unable to capitalise and the match drifted decisively away from them. First Dai Carter, making his first start of the season in the pack, drove through the cover before Darren Hobbs set up Danny Brookman for a neat finish and then Mike Clare was on the end of a driven scrum to drop on the ball for his hat-trick.

This was Penarth's 47th try of the season and the 61st in all competitions. Since only leaders Llanishen come close in the scoring stakes, the Seasiders leap-frogged over Pentyrch and Blaina into fourth place. With the return derby at Cwrt-y-Vil to come on Saturday, the next few weeks will confirm whether Penarth can maintain this level of form and make the serious challenge for promotion they're clearly capable of.

For their own part, the Old Pens have shown an upturn in form in the last two weeks and will be looking to put the Seasiders under pressure and gain revenge for the 32-7 defeat on the opening day of the season.

Penarth: Cummings, Patnett, Hobbs, Jones, Brookman, Jenkins, Edwards, Muggeridge, Wysocki, Seymour, Gooding (Gent), Howden, Glover, Clare, Carter.