PENARTH KEEP DREAM ALIVE (From Penarth Times)

PENARTH KEEP DREAM ALIVE

PENARTH 32

COWBRIDGE 10

THE DREAM remains of a first promotion in a decade and a half of league rugby.

It's as near and as far away as it's ever been as the Seasiders cling on grimly to that second promotion spot.

Cowbridge arrived at the Athletic Field for this rearranged fixture brimming with confidence after a couple of good wins.

Despite being 15 points behind the Seasiders, they had five games in hand and really fancied this one.

The opening 15 minutes only confirmed this as both sides began at a blistering pace, but it was the visitors who opened the scoring when their outside centre and right wing combined down the flank with the Penarth defence all in place.

A crucial missed tackle wrong-footed Chris Reddicliffe and the centre galloped through to score.

This was all very impressive, but the visitors had failed to build on a steady start in the tight and the hosts began to concentrate in that area.

After half an hour, Cowbridge started to tire and it was only handling errors that were keeping Penarth off the scoresheet.

At this point, the Seasiders set up a maul near the Cowbridge line and Mike Clare went over for his eighth try of the season. This was obviously going to be the visitors' weak spot and Penarth moved quickly to exploit it.

With half-time approaching, Cowbridge pulled down a maul near their own line, but the Seasiders played the advantage and Michael Hopkins went over for a 12-7 lead.

The second half began in a rather aimless fashion and the visitors seemed relieved to accept a kickable penalty after five minutes. However, Chris Reddicliffe immediately pulled one back and restored Penarth's five point lead.

Now Cowbridge, having looked beaten up front, proceeded to maul a line-out fully 30 metres before spinning it out and knocking it on. Make no mistake, they had their tails up and the Seasiders were under all sorts of pressure for 20 minutes.

Keeping Cowbridge on the right side of the try line was the only objective and the siege was finally lifted as Penarth launched an attack up the right flank.

Centre David Jenkins took a long inside pass and headed for the left corner flag, but his own pass back was deflected by a retreating Cowbridge defender and wing James Crothers reacted quickly enough to register the score.

A rash of replacements led to further stagnation before the Seasiders brought the curtain down on Cowbridge's ambitions with a big finish.

First, a delicately balanced three-quarter move was almost snuffed out by a handling error, but Steve Roberts turned to snatch the ball out of the air behind him before pirouetting again and sprinting for the line.

The full back was also heavily involved in Penarth's fifth try on the stroke of full time.

An audacious move from under their own posts was transformed as Roberts sped over half way and then kicked delicately ahead. The chase was on and David Jenkins fielded the bounce and put supporting flanker Rob Pearce flying in at the corner.

On that exhilarating note, the Seasiders now stand down from league action for a fortnight, as the Six Nations is put to bed.

The final act of this season's league drama will be interesting. For sure, all Penarth's rivals have games in hand, but the Seasiders have the points already in the bag and that counts for a lot when the pressure's on.

Penarth:Reddicliffe, Roberts, Jenkins, Bevan, J Crothers, Edwards (Capt), Mortimer, Merrett, Evans, P Bennett, Fitzgerald, Allen, Hopkins (Taylor), Clare (Payne), Bonello (Pearce)

Penarth take on Sully in a friendly match at the Athletic Field on March 17, kick-off 7.15pm.