OLD Penarthians U10s defeated Penarth in a thrilling contest. After a hard fought opening in which neither side could register a score, the deadlock was broken as new Old Pens player Nathaniel Buttress sprinted in from 20 metres out.

Penarth soon scored an equalising try but Old Pens took the lead again when Tom Stout scored a superb try. They then stretched their lead when Buttress again showed good pace to round off a period of sustained pressure.

Penarth refused to fold, scoring a second try, and threatening to cut through the Old Pens defence several more times, making for a tense finish. But Old Pens determination shone through and they emerged as worthy winners.

The Old Penarthians Under 9’s enthusiastically gathered across the road to face their near neighbours in a battle for the latest school yard bragging rights.

During four sessions of 10 minutes there was some fantastic rugby played by both teams. Penarth showed some excellent ball retention but it was the Old Pen’s who had more of a cutting edge early on in attack with Ben Vacquerizo and Henry Hanson both crossing for tries after some slick handling and strong running.

Penarth came back strongly scoring some great tries. The Old Pen’s defence stepped up and there was some tremendous tackling, Rhys Thomas and Callem Richardson outstanding.

After two equal periods where the Old Pen’s defence held firm with Joe Powell, Elliott Rabaiotti, Luke Barry, Charlie Griffith and Lloyd Phillips in the thick of the defensive effort. The Old Pen’s further tries came from the dynamic running of Gethin O’ Callaghan, Malachi Humphreys and Jacob Julien with a fantastic try double to finish.

A great display of Junior rugby from both sides, The Old Pen’s edging the win on this occasion 7-12, well done to both sides.

The Old Penarthians Under 8s were playing Penarth for the second time this season. They had met in the pool games of the Cardiff Blues District Tag Competition at the start of the season, where the Old Pens had gone through to the semi-finals unbeaten.

Nicknamed the Titans, the Old Pens put out three teams to play a total of six games. The games were played in excellent spirit by two young sets of school friends and now rivals.

OPRFC showed that they could build their game on a solid defence and proved their skills in attack. They passed and supported each other and ran in tries; all players took part in defence and attack, there were some notable performance as well.

Jericho Perkins ran in tries from deep using his speed and step, Louie Lawrence showed his vision of the game by reaching the try-line and popping the ball back in for schoolmate Twm Ryan-Davies to dance his way over for a great try.

Evan Friis and Josh King ran in tries, while the move of the day between Josh and one of the captains for the day Wil Seeley saw the ball go slightly forward and the score disallowed.

Haydn Craven brought vision and distribution to the game as well as running in six tries for the day and Luke Summerfield scored the try of the day by side-stepping three players in a show of speed and straight running.

Tag tackle of the day went to Callum O’Brien who showed the spirit that all the Old Pens play with, in a seemingly hopeless chase down the wing where he eventually caught and tag tackled the Penarth player with a spectacular dive. The Titans kept their unbeaten record against Penarth winning all six games.