Something to shout about for Seasiders (From Penarth Times)

Something to shout about for Seasiders

THERE was a time (and not so long ago) when the Seasiders would have been seriously rattled by the visit of such a vocal and aggressive bunch as Penygraig, but not any more.

Within minutes of the kick-off, a move, starting with a James Crothers counter from his own 10 metre line, finished with the left wing linking with David Morgan and Dai Carter to put Dafydd Hobbs in for the try.

The visitors soon found out what it was like to be pressurised, as the Penarth pack started to dominate the scrums. All the forward arts were on display, as a penalty was kicked to touch and the catch-and-drive yielded yet another try for Geraint Evans.

To cap it all, quality players are still arriving by way of the Mini/Junior/Youth conveyor belt, and Michael Hopkins announced himself on the blindside flank with a huge arcing break (complete with dummies) before deftly putting Dai Carter in for a try. Only the rain prevented a complete rout before half-time as the Penarth defence held firm.

As the rain came down harder, the home side began to depend more and more on the pack to keep it going forward, despite a promising break from wing James Olney and the constant bustling presence of captain Andrew Edwards at inside centre.

In a classic vignette of forward rugby, they harassed the Penygraig defence into conceding a scrum on their own 22. Dai Carter broke from number 8 and Jason Allen drove on from the breakdown. A maul formed around him and was driven to the line, where prop David Morgan was the scorer.

At this point it was beginning to look as if the visitors would throw the towel in, so much so, that Richard Merrett had the confidence to ignore a two-man overlap and try to carry the whole Peny-graig defence over the line with him.

This didn't quite come off, but the loose head made amends from the next line-out, emerging from the catch-and-drive with his side's fifth try.

A bizarre five minutes followed as the Seasiders assembled the coaching agenda for the following week: dealing with restarts is definitely top of the list, boys. Penygraig were able to drive it up to the line and lay siege for a while.

Pressure told, and after they had clearly scored from a maul, the referee called them back for a penalty under the Penarth posts. Justice was served and a score came from a quick tap, as the visitors never stopped trying.

In a final bit of strangeness before full-time, the Penarth pack trampled all over Penygraig once again under their own posts, and, as their number 8 came unbound and kicked the ball away, the only award was a penalty.

Last week, the reward for Dinas was a penalty try and a yellow card, but who needs refereeing consistency when it's all going your way anyway? Danny Brookman kicked the points and the Seasiders consolidated their early position as league leaders.

With three clubs jockeying for position at the top of Division 4 (SE) with maximum points, Penarth welcome another unbeaten side, fourth-placed Llandaff North.

Having taken a 52-0 thrashing from Div 2 (W) side Mumbles in the cup, they returned to some sort of form with a 55-7 disposal of Dinas Powys. Whether they can trouble the Seasiders is another matter entirely.

Penarth: Brookman, Olney, Hobbs (Jones), Edwards, Crothers, Lerway, Mortimer, Merrett, Evans (T. Bennett), Morgan (Seymour), Ball, Allen, Hopkins, Carter, Bonello (Coslett).