Penarth run out of puff at seasons end (From Penarth Times)

Penarth run out of puff at seasons end

ON a sunny spring afternoon up at Bedlinog, Penarth finally ran into the sand at the end of their best-ever league season.

The Bargoed Taff valley club were always going to be something of a banana skin for the Seasiders - and so it proved.

The hosts began with all their expected ferocity with the wind at their backs, but despite all the bluster struggled to extend their lead to 10-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Having weathered the storm, Penarth now began to exert some real pressure up front. So successful were they that Bedlinog were pushed clean off their own ball in a scrum under their own posts.

Chris Mortimer peeled off the back to score in the corner.

Despite a further ten minutes of pressure from the Seasiders, the last kick of the first half fell to Bedlinog as full-back Jenkins converted from 40 metres to send his team into the interval 13-5 in the lead.

Turning round with the wind at their backs, there was a real chance that Penarth could make their forward superiority tell.

They did this and more, but two things conspired to hamper their progress towards what was looking like a well-fought win.

The first element was that Bedlinog's rough-house approach to the game was ringing the changes on the Seasiders' bench rather quicker than planned.

More significant though, was the error level creeping into the Penarth game which let the home defence off the hook regularly.

A superb individual second try from Chris Mortimer brought the scores up to 13-12 with 23 minutes to go, but it was all downhill from there.

An ill-advised grubber from Danny Brookman started the process as Bedlinog replacement Rees hacked ahead and won the race with Mike Clare to the line.

With the score on 20-12, it seemed unlikely that Penarth could claw back two scores, but neither did it look as if Bedlinog would pull further ahead.

Until, that is, Lloyd Davey made a superb catch from a high ball and set off on a diagonal run only to pull up in obvious pain.

Having run out of replacements, the Seasiders started to look a little ragged and the hosts began to find the sort of gaps that simply hadn't been there in the preceding 75 minutes.

The wingers claimed a try apiece as Bedlinog stretched their lead to an unlikely 32-12.

So Aberdare's final match on Friday at Rhigos is now what they hoped it would be - an exercise in trying to reach 63 points and claim the championship.

For the Seasiders, it's back to the drawing board to build on an undeniably superb season, comfortably averaging more than four tries a game.

There are still obvious gaps in the squad's make-up and these will need to be addressed in time for next season.

Leaders Fairwater provide the obvious example, having gained promotion after narrow disappointment last time around.