Formidable ypouth enhance reputation (From Penarth Times)

Formidable ypouth enhance reputation

Penarth Youth 12pts Crawshays Youth 26pts Plymouth Colts l7pts Penarth Youth 32pts Clevedon Colts 10pts Penarth Youth 17pts.

NOW ACCEPTED on all sides as a formidable force in producing the players of the future, Penarth Youth well exceeded their own target of re-creating Good Friday rugby and attracting Penarth rugby followers by producing a fine performance against the all-Wales select Crawshays side on a beautiful afternoon in front of a full crowd.

The weather, the referee and the players combined to provide a display of sparkling end -to end running rugby in a conscious attempt to reproduce the joys of the good old Penarth Baa-Baas days.

An early lineout catch and drive try which has become a Penarth speciality put second row Richard Ball over for a try and brought a roar of approval from the crowd.

Whilst the invitation Crawshays side was bigger, they were picked for their ability to play open rugby and they entered into the spirit with a fast converted try to bring the half time score to 7-5 in their favour.

A ding-dong second half where the lead changed hands and Penarth centre Matthew O'Neil scored a beautiful charge-down try converted by Gareth Jones and two more tries disallowed, saw the visitors put three more tries down although they fairly agreed that the final scoreline flattered them.

A last-minute Easter Tour based on Plymouth started with a prodigious display against the well established Plymouth Albion Colts who were by far the bigger side and who included some under 21's players.

The lighter Seasiders astonished the locals, again with two catch and drive line-out tries in quick succession - the first by Scott Pearson and the second by captain "Tank" Smart so that the fancied locals were on the back foot

Since many of the players are schoolboys and several are going on the St Cyres Australia trip, Penarth Youth are very grateful to Penarth Athletic Committee for financial help with the tour coach costs.

The Penarth side was an ad-hoc selection of those available for tour duties but they each played "out of their skins."

And 18 stone prop Richard "Mez" Merrett was unstoppable in a corner drive try followed later by winger Daniel Read.

Then full back Steve Roberts with a conversion by Gareth Jones brought the halftime score to 22-0 to the Youth.

Half time changes and 20 minutes of losing focus allowed the Albion to come back into the game but their three tries were answered by a try by Penarth centre Tim Naylor and another by Scott Pearson so the final score was a superb 32-17 win for the Youth.

After a weekend's heavy relaxation in Plymouth, the fixture on the way home against Clevedon was not to be taken lightly, and again the home side openly included some under 21's.

An early Youth try with a fine backs passing movement finishing with Tim Naylor scoring was answered by a Clevedon converted try and the whole match was a hard struggle.

Scott Pearson scored just before halftime to give Penarth a 10-7 lead and give himself a a tour hat-trick

A second half penalty for the Somerset side brought a nail biting 10-all scoreline. It took Penarth's full back Steve Roberts to outrun the home defence and Gareth Jones to convert to give the tired but happy Penarth squad a 17-10 win to come home with.

No, the season is not over yet; there are League and Cup play offs and the Youth welcome St Peter's at home this Saturday for an East District Cup match while full back Leon Andrews rests after scoring a try in the winning Wales U-19 against England last Friday.