Undefeated no more (From Penarth Times)

Undefeated no more

IN A TORRID game that was by no means as clear-cut as the score suggests, the Seasiders finally lost their unbeaten record against Penallta at Ystrad Mynach last Saturday.

It was Penarth who made the brighter start, but once the ball was released to Penallta's three-quarters, a pattern emerged that was to become familiar as the afternoon wore on.

Exerting huge pressure, with support runners probing left and right, they finally pulled the Seasiders' defence sufficiently out of shape to work an opening, and over went the outside centre for the first try.

It was not that they couldn't vary it either, as a few minutes later a careful approach up the middle suddenly erupted as the inside centre cut in from the left wing on to a short ball and cut clean through to the posts.

With 20 minutes gone and 14-0 in arrears, Penarth shook themselves up and began to claw their way back into the game. Deep in his own half, Danny Brookman threw a hospital pass to Chris Reddicliffe, but the full-back skipped through three tackles and drove into the visitors' half, supported by Andrew Edwards and Mike Clare.

Suddenly Penallta looked under pressure and, sure enough, after the Seasiders were penalised for delaying a throw, Richard Ball stole the ball at the re-set line-out, a trick he was to repeat all afternoon.

The pack drove the maul to the line and although it was Ball himself who emerged with the ball, it was by no means certain that David Morgan hadn't scored.

Another Reddicliffe break led to a missed penalty chance, but a maul produced a better position and the full-back slotted it over.

Penallta came back strongly from the restart as the Seasiders rested on their well-earned laurels.

They were allowed to release their deadly back division and a dazzling display of support running soon produced a good third try.

Despite this further reverse, Penarth had clearly learned their lessons and took the game back to Penallta.

Successive drives up the middle from Mike Clare and Richard Ball created the space and the ball was spun wide for prop David Morgan to score his side's second try.

Turning round only 21-13 down, a win was definitely on for the Seasiders, so long as they maintained their concentration and kept the ball away from those Penallta backs.

They made an excellent start, but as the ball-carrier came unbound from a maul deep in the home half, a bizarre sequence of errors, starting with successive 10 metre awards, culminated in a chip over the top being mishandled on the line and Penallta's fourth try.

All too soon, a Penarth backs move broke down before it even reached the threequarters and the hosts launched a swift counter from half-way with the right wing outpacing the cover to score from 50 metres.

A period of renewed Seasiders' pressure was finally relieved as a 5 metre scrum went through 90 degrees and this time it was the speedy inside centre who left the defence for dead and fed his left wing for the score.

At 42-13 down, the game was lost, but Penarth still had questions to ask and Chris Reddicliffe raced through several tackles for a superb individual score.

Unfortunately more loose play allowed Penallta to reclaim possession and the support was all there for a final try just before full-time.

This Saturday, the Seasiders welcome fifth-placed Cilfynydd to the Athletic Field. The Taff Vale club have enjoyed mixed fortunes so far this season

PENARTH: Chris Reddicliffe, Lloyd Davey (James Crothers), Ross Olney, Andrew Edwards David Lerway, Danny Brookman, Chris Mortimer, David Morgan (Brian Higgins), Geraint Evans, Richard Merrett, Jason Allen, Richard Ball Kevin Fitzgerald, Mike Clare, Michael Hopkins (Robert Pearce),