Seasiders struggle (From Penarth Times)

Seasiders struggle

Penarth 0, Newport Saracens 40

THE 'POINTS for' column says it all as the toothless Seasiders continue to fail to impress opposing defences.

Last Saturday's visitors, Newport Saracens, were sitting pretty on top of the Division 5 (East) table, having scored 21 tries in four league wins out of five.

Penarth, having tucked away seven in the first two games, have now managed only three in the last four.

While the defensive performance had its good points (despite admittedly conceding five tries) it was the total lack of penetration going forward that ensured that the Seasiders were never going to compete.

This was a problem that rarely troubled Penarth last season, when they were consistently among the division's top try-scorers and the differences between that team and the current line-up are small, but significant.

The simple fact of the matter is that the club is currently fielding only one player with a history of breaking the gain line.

They still have plenty of players whose strengths lie in supporting the ball-carrier, but hardly anyone's getting over the gain line, let alone breaking it.

Unfortunately, Div 5 (East) is all about that sort of physical confrontation and whatever their absent ball-carriers may lack in distribution skills, the fact remains that they create the circumstances in which tries are scored.

Saracens raced into an early lead as outside half Matthew Evans exploited the wind, allowing his forwards to gain the upper hand up front.

Tries by an unidentified forward at the bottom of a pushover and a blindside break by openside David Snell saw the visitors safely into an 18-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Some good work by Dafydd Hobbs, supported by debutant outside half Marcus Blackburn and Dan Brookman cast a shaft of light into the gloom, but Evans was able to clear downwind.

From a 25 metre line out, Saracens ran the ball right and then switched left to send loosehead prop Andrew Davies romping over unopposed on a huge overlap.

A rare Seasiders attack on half-way set up debutant wing Joe Sage for an impressive burst over the twenty before being felled with a high tackle.

Individual inspiration was again the case minutes later as Ben Morris sold a huge dummy and raced clear. Drawing the cover, he fed Jeremy Griffith on his right shoulder, but the full-back was hauled down just short of the line.

Half-time arrived with the visitors sitting on a comfortable 23-0 lead. Penarth began the second half with a little more purpose, reinforced by the introduction of Simon Crothers and Brent Muggeridge.

Mike Clare made an early break, supported by the ever-present Alun Bonello and the ball was worked wide promisingly for the threequarters.

The only result was a penalty chance for Marcus Blackburn from 35 metres which dropped just short.

Unfortunately, too many of the Seasiders' initiatives in this encouraging spell ended in touch and with the line-out delivering little good possession, the momentum was lost.

Saracens appeared quite happy with the status quo and were never in any great hurry to keep the game moving.

Having extended their lead with a Darren Gregg penalty, they put together the move of the game as Matthew Evans broke through midfield after a well-driven maul over half-way and found open space behind the Penarth lines. Drawing the remaining cover, he set up full-back Darren Gregg to loop round and score in the corner.

The Seasiders' morale was clearly suffering by this point and it was Matthew Evans himself who broke clean through from a scrum on the home 10 metre line to score his side's fifth try.

The last 15 minutes were played out in the Penarth 22, but the defence held firm and no further points were conceded.

This Saturday, Penarth are again at home, this time against less exalted opposition in the shape of Caldicot.

The Monmouthshire club lie just above the Seasiders in 10th position by virtue of a draw up at New Tredegar, their only win of the season being a 48-3 defeat of Old Penarthians.

It's obviously no coincidence that all of Penarth's defeats have been against teams in the top half of the table, so this has to be viewed as an opportunity to get this season back on the rails.

Penarth: Griffith, Sage, Brookman, Hobbs, Bush (Patnett), Blackburn, Morris, Seymour (Muggeridge), Webber, Swaine, Gooding, Gunnerson, Harding (Crothers), Clare, Bonello.