Seasiders sink Squirrels (From Penarth Times)

Seasiders sink Squirrels

RHIWBINA 8 PENARTH 44

The conditions at Parc Lon-y-Dail last Saturday were perfect apart from the pitch, which sucked hard at the players' boots for 80 minutes.

After 18 consecutive defeats in league and cup this season, the Squirrels weren't expected to trouble Penarth over-much and so it proved.

In a horribly disjointed and one-sided contest, the Seasiders ran in seven tries to emerge convincing winners, with captain Mike Clare claiming a hat-trick. So little did Rhiwbina have to offer, it could have been twice that many.

Penarth got the scoreboard moving within minutes of the kick-off as their first attack sent the ball wide to Leon Patnett and Stuart Gunnerson drove over from the maul.

From the restart, referee Eric Jones delivered the first of many idiosyncratic decisions by penalising Paul Gooding after being tackled taking the catch. Lock S Neal converted to keep his side briefly in touch.

This was about the only time Rhiwbina were allowed to venture into the visitors' half until the second period.

The Seasiders camped out in the hosts' 22, occasionally dropping back to collect clearance kicks, but otherwise in full control.

Quite how they failed to notch up a cricket score with all the possession and territory is hard to fathom, but it took until the 25th minute to register any further score.

Following a classy one-handed line-out take from Stuart Gunnerson, Simon Crothers took route one to the posts and fed Mike Clare for the scoring dive. The half ended with Craig Miller characteristically slotting over a 50-metre penalty.

The early minutes of the second half disappeared under a welter of whistles and both sections of the crowd contributed to a carnival atmosphere by cheering each successive blast.

Eventually, Penarth were allowed to put some moves together, when first Danny Brookman and then Simon Crothers were stopped short of the line.

Typical of the frustration experienced was the next move when the Seasiders drove a collapsing Rhiwbina scrum over the line, but only received a penalty in recompense.

The kick was tapped and worked wide for David Jones to run in the overlap.

The left wing was also involved in the next passage of play as he was illegally taken out under a high ball and Rhiwbina openside J Penn ran on to score his side's consolation try.

From the restart, Rhiwbina were penalised as a scrum formed, but Penarth were not allowed to score from the tapped penalty due to continuing discussions between the ref and the hosts.

Just when it was beginning to look as if further scores were a bit of a forlorn hope, the Seasiders put together a torrid five minutes which brought three tries and ended any hope of a Rhiwbina revival.

The first was a classic try from a scrum on half-way.

Worked first down the left flank by Mark and David Jones, play was then switched to a drive up the middle by Mike Clare and David Carter before being moved wide on the right where Leon Patnett exploited the overlap in the corner.

Three minutes later, a clearly bored Brendan Bush, having had little to do all game, called for the ball on half way, then danced and drove right through the home defence before being pulled up just short of the line.

Replacement hooker Richard Harding picked up and drove over. Simon Crothers was again the catalyst on 69 minutes with an exhilarating drive and fine pass off the deck to Craig Miller who found the gap that leads to the posts, handing Mike Clare the scoring pass for his second.

With ten minutes to go, 50 points seemed like a formality, but with the hosts infringing with gay abandon and the referee equally keen to just carry on penalising them, there was little joy for the Seasiders until the last minute.

Gaining put-in to a five-metre scrum, they put the squeeze on for Mike Clare to pick up and drive over for his hat-trick.

Due to international commitments (presumably the entire squad was put on standby in the event of the players' strike for the England game going ahead), the next Seasiders' fixture will be on Easter Saturday, when they entertain Pentyrch at the Athletic Field.

Penarth: Bush, Patnett, Brookman, M Jones, D Jones, Miller, Edwards (Morris 75), Seymour, Wysocki (Harding 55), Swaine, Gooding (Parry 63), Crothers, Gunnerson (Muggeridge 35), Clare, Carter.