Scoreline rather flatters on a funny sort of afternoon (From Penarth Times)

Scoreline rather flatters on a funny sort of afternoon

PENARTH 53

DINAS POWYS 0

THERE aren"t many days when the team that"s just maintained its 0% league record in its tenth consecutive league defeat finishes the game feeling rather more satisfied with its afternoon"s work than the one that"s just won 53-0 and gone top of the table.

Then again, it isn"t every day that even as mobile and athletic a prop as Richard Merrett scores four tries either. Whichever way you look at it, the Seasiders struggled to master the Villagers and yet scored ten tries; it was a funny sort of afternoon.

It all started to go wrong before the kick-off, when the referee made the first of several bizarre decisions on the day when he allowed uncontested scrums from the kick-off. This rather spoiled the Seasiders" plans for forward domination.

Fine, so there are other ways of getting your way up front and Richard Merrett had an idea of how to go about it. A couple of pick up and drives and over he went for the first try after only two minutes. It was all going to be so easy, except that nothing much happened for the next half hour.

To be fair, the Dinas defence was well up to the job and the Penarth back division just couldn"t seem to work out where the gaps were. Luckily, the pack hadn"t forgotten the basics and mauled a line-out to the line where Merrett was again the scorer.

Of all the things the Seasiders needed at this point a punch-up wasn"t really top of the list, but off it went anyway and so did Robert Pearce and Dinas lock D Spear for ten minutes. Amazingly, this seemed to liven Penarth up as they attacked from a turn-over and Andrew Edwards turned a toe-perfect delivery from Danny Brookman into a scoring pass to Chris Reddicliffe who strolled in at the corner.

Having achieved a try without forward involvement, the Seasiders" back division turned on the style, but missed out the bit where the opposition are bamboozled and charged straight into over- elaboration.

Luckily some players retained a dim memory of where the try-line was and on the stroke of half time David Jenkins put Chris Reddicliffe clear for a fourth try and a lead of 24-0.

Five minutes into the second half Robert Pearce extended the lead to 29-0 with a try in the corner and a bit more mauling and driving brought up Merrett"s hat-trick after 57 minutes.

The next six minutes brought more pointless fannying about in the back division until Merrett again took charge and actually broke into a trot as he shattered two tackles and crossed under the posts for his fourth.

With fully 20 minutes to play and leading 43-0, there was every reason to expect Penarth to go on and rack up an impressive score, but the visitors, while never looking at all likely to trouble the scorers, were resolute in defence.

The home backs, in contrast, were having a bit of a nightmare and still couldn"t find a way through.

Perhaps it was the fact that the points were already in the bag, but in the final quarter only two more scores resulted. Richard Ball showed his usual fine turn of speed, winning the race to reach a kick-ahead, while Lloyd Davey finally got on the score-sheet on the stroke of full-time on the end of a three-quarter move that was, for once, simplicity itself.

A final score of 53-0 perhaps wasn"t what the Seasiders were looking for against a side that have averaged 52 "points against" this season, but the fact remains that they"re standing three points clear at the top of the league.

They travel to 11th-placed Penygraig on Saturday, who have so far managed a single home win this season. When the sides met at the Athletic Field back in September, the Seasiders were pushed all the way, but achieved a comfortable 32-7 win in the end. A similar score on the weekend would do very nicely, thank you.

PENARTH:Reddicliffe, Davey, Jenkins, Edwards, I.Moorcraft (Roberts), Brookman, Mortimer, Merrett, P.Bennett (T.Bennett), Higgins, Allen, Ball, Hopkins (Bonello), Clare, Pearce.

Asda Welsh National League Division 4 (South-East)

Saturday, December 10

PWDLFAPts

1PENARTH1080233514924

2Penallta870136710021

3Taff's Well1070323012421

4Cilfynydd860223012218

5Llandaff North960322123118

6Bedlinog86021847718

7Cowbridge74031476912

8Dowlais92071172216

9Llandaff82061192106

10Llantwit Major102081301916

11Penygraig9306872456

12Dinas Powys100010275160