St Peters 33 v Penarth 18

THE final game of the 2015-16 season saw Penarth well clear of relegation, but the frustrations of this campaign were all too evident.

Facing a combative St Peters Rocks side, the Seasiders showed Penarth their best side in a committed display where they were still in with a chance of a win until the 70th minute.

An early score by Rocks’ scrum half Luke O’Brien seemed to have established a pattern in an already niggly game, but Penarth soon showed they hadn’t come along for the ride. They drove a scrum in the home 22 towards the posts, only for the referee to call them back for a penalty. Successive scrums led to successive penalties before James Docherty finally put Huw Elias into a gap and the full back finished with his usual panache.

All too soon the referee made another critical intervention as St Peters cleared inside their own 22. Docherty charged the kick down, but was pulled back 10 metres from the line as he followed up. A clear penalty try was bizarrely interpreted as a simple penalty.

Once again an apparent injustice resulted in a score. The line-out was driven ferociously by a determined Penarth pack and Harry Roberts scored in the corner.

More violence followed and the Rocks tight head was awarded a yellow card for throwing a punch, but this didn’t noticeably affect the hosts’ drive as they powered over for a try that eased them into a one point lead. The Seasiders hit back immediately with a Docherty penalty and led 12-13 at half-time.

Penarth were making all the running at the start of the second half and a rare win at the Harlequins Playing Field began to emerge as a distinct possibility as Roberts went over for his second try from a five metre scrum.

Leading 12-18 approaching the final quarter, the Seasiders appeared to be fully in control, but then the roof fell in again. First, a long kick ahead from the Rocks failed to go dead in the Penarth in-goal, but instead of touching down for a 22 drop-out or clearing to touch, Ben Hill opted to go experimental and conceded a five metre scrum to St Peters which resulted in a penalty try.

The last 20 minutes were a catalogue of disasters for Penarth as they were forced to empty their bench due to a string of injuries. Most entertaining was a 20 minute cameo from Brent Muggeridge, who looked for all the world as if he’d never been away.

Less entertaining was the fact that a severely-weakened Seasiders were now unable to withstand pressure from the hosts and a respectable 19-18 score turned into a less representative 33-18 result as they ran in two late tries.

Ultimately, the Seasiders’ seven wins out of 12 before Christmas saved them from relegation as Treherbert and Gwernyfed went down, but the fact remains that they’ve only won one out of 10 since then and more continuity will be needed from a strong and youthful squad in 2016-17 if they are to retain their Division 2 status again.

Penarth: Huw Elias, Ben Hill (Riyad Aukbarally), James Candy, Tom Luck, James Cothers, Tom Hillman, James Docherty, Chris Mortimer, Jerome Bryan, Mason Good, Sean O’Sullivan (Brent Muggeridge), Owain James, Richie Howell, Scot Mackie, Alex Thau, Harry Roberts (Tom Hillman)

Scorers: Huw Elais (try), Harry Roberts (two tries), James Docherty (penalty)

Swalec League Division 2 (East Central)

P W D L F A Pts

1 Porth Harlequins 22 21 0 1 549 296 97

2 Dowlais 22 16 0 6 619 304 80

3 Llantrisant 22 15 1 6 555 426 71

4 Barry 21 15 0 6 466 318 69

5 St Peters 21 10 2 9 483 405 59

6 CRC Caerdydd 20 9 0 11 461 437 47

7 Dinas Powys 20 7 3 10 406 378 47

8 PENARTH 22 8 0 14 364 462 39

9 Abercynon 22 8 0 14 370 473 39

10 Pontyclun 21 7 0 14 415 455 39

11 Treherbert 20 5 0 15 182 637 21

12 Gwernyfed 22 3 0 19 257 544 20