PENARTH Under-15s welcomed Llanishen to the Athletic Field for a hard fought match with Penarth managing to hold on to their lead for a 24-19 victory.

Having not played each other for a number of seasons it was Penarth who benefited first to score with a try by Morgan on the left wing after Penarth had counter-rucked at the contact area, spun the ball wide with great accuracy to put Morgan in space who sped in from 35 metres, rounding the defence to score under the posts, Joe duly converted.

The Llanishen pack was to show its power next with a number of close range forward drives and well controlled ruck ball.

Penarth defended well against their forward power but eventually ran out of tacklers and the bulky Llanishen prop drove over to score from close range, the try was converted to make it 7-7 at half-time.

The windy conditions were playing havoc for both teams with their passing and kicking, with Penarth kicking instead of running the ball at times and losing possession or kicking the ball dead.

During the second half the Llanishen forwards again showed their control and power but lacked decisive runners out wide.

The Penarth midfield tackled like demons with some backs doing the jobs of the Penarth back rowers effectively.

From a lineout after a Penarth penalty, Llanishen tapped the ball towards their own line, Haaris responded the quickest and gathered the loose ball to power over from 10 metres out and gain a pile on from the appreciative fellow Penarth players.

A Penarth reshuffle was needed in the backs after Josh Lewis sustained a nasty knee sprain and had to leave the field, so Ben Jones was back in action after a lengthy layoff.

Straight from the restart Penarth hit back again with a strong run out of defence on the left from Henry Carter, who outpaced the defence to be tackled by the fullback just short but managed to pop the ball to Morgan in great support who dived over to score, Ben converted.

The score was now 19 - 7 to Penarth.

Llanishen had other ideas and hit back through their forwards again and while many players stopped and decided to argue with the opposition the Llanishen number eight ran past six would-be tacklers to score under the posts, it was converted well. The score was now 19 -14.

The Llanishen centre had 10 minutes to kick his heels on the sideline after a dangerous tackle on Joe.

During this time Penarth went close on a couple of occasions and should have probably ran the ball wide against 14 men rather than taking on their forwards at their own game.

Gruff moved the ball wide through Ben, Joe and Henry to release Luc on a twisting run who opted to go himself instead of feeding Jack on the outside to score, 24-14.

There was still time for more drama as Llanishen gained territory in the Penarth 22 after more forward drives and fed their loose head to bump off a few tacklers to score, the conversion went wide and Penarth managed to stretch their unbeaten run to 12 matches.

With the prospect of a visit from Rhiwbina next week Penarth will need to play far better in the forward exchanges if they are going to control the game better.

A pleasing win when the team did not play particularly well, just imagine what would have happened if they had played to their potential.

Well done to all involved - players, coaches, officials and supporters from both teams.

Dame-of-the-Game went to Joe at outside half who controlled the backline with aplomb and also was high up on the tackle count and gathered the troops around the injured Josh to sing their victory ditty.

Great to see Ben back in action and hopefully Josh will be back very soon.

Squad: Geraint, Tom G, Niall, Alex S, Haaris, Dan A, Hugh, Lyle, Tomo, Alex O, Gruff, Joe, Henry, Jack, Josh, Morgan, Luc and Ben J.