Penarth RFC 7

Clwb Rygbi Cymry Caerdydd 38

THE relegation-threatened visitors had everything to play for and this bonus-point away win has pretty much settled the matter in their favour. Quite what was Penarth’s part in all this was never entirely clear.

Recent performances have all been a weird mixture of error and excellence, but this game, with the exception of the one smartly-taken opportunist try, was one to forget.

The Seasiders’ usual competence in both defence and attack were both called into question and found wanting.

Clwb dominated the early exchanges as Penarth struggled to get out of their own 22, but after 10 minutes, a swift attack from a tapped penalty sliced the defence open and lock Owain Tudur scored under the posts.

Almost immediately, another laboured breakout by the Seasiders was halted and possession stolen. A pass out wide to Pat Emmannuel allowed the number eight to crash over and send his side into an early 14 - 0 lead.

Penarth seemed to have woken up by this point and came up with some ideas. Matt Allen chased a long kick ahead into the Clwb 22 and the last defender came in from the right, but missed the dropping ball.

Following the bounce towards the line, Allen was certain to score, but was brought down off the ball. The clearest case for a penalty try, but the referee, despite a yellow card for the offender, wasn’t having any of it.

A series of five metre scrums failed to yield anything for the Seasiders, who might have been better advised to take the points, but their first score soon came from a Clwb break-out.

An intelligent-looking cross kick was overrun by the right wing and James Crothers took the ball neatly in the air on half-way before pinning his ears back and scoring behind the posts.

Penarth seemed to be steadying up a little, but also developed a tendency to take weird risks, usually losing the ball in contact and turning over possession.

One of these allowed Clwb to make a 60 metre break and establish a platform in the Seasiders’ 22 which yielded their third try after 37 minutes.

Penarth started the second half with renewed confidence, having regained dominance in the scrum.

However, this made little difference to their position in the game as they wasted possession with poor decision-making and simply trying too hard to score tries rather than settle for getting the scoreboard moving.

By now both sides were looking like relegation contenders as the error count mounted and the yellow cards came out.

Clwb were content to bide their time and this paid off 27 minutes into an otherwise scoreless half as the Seasiders attacked and a pass that was 100 per cent guaranteed to be picked off was thrown anyway and Clwb right wing Jack Lewis raced 50 metres for the touch-down.

Trailing 26 - 7, the Seasiders had run out of time and ideas, so it was no surprise when Clwb helped themselves to the last two of their six tries.

First they took their time with an attacking scrum before Tudur sold a leisurely dummy and trundled over for his second try; then, just before the final whistle, their left wing cut inside on the Penarth 10 metre line and went through a string of despairing tackles to score under the posts.

The Seasiders have an early opportunity to put things right as they travel to Gilfach Goch next Saturday, April 8, kick-off 2.30pm. Their opponents are in sixth place, but just one point separates the teams. Penarth edged the corresponding home fixture 18 - 17 back in December.

Penarth: James Docherty, Nathan Palmer (James Thatcher), Tom Luck (C), Chris Mortimer (Tom Hillman), James Crothers, Mitch Hickey, Rhys Morgan, Jerome Bryan (Matt Holder), Mason Good, Sean O’Sullivan, Aaron Ellis (Caleb Docking), Matt Allan, Scott Mackie, Elliott Smith, Harry Roberts (Mike Clare)

Scorers: James Crothers (try), James Docherty (conversion)

National League Division 2 (East Central)

P W D L F A Pts

1 Dinas Powys 19 15 0 4 547 271 74

2 Llantrisant 19 15 0 4 500 316 71

3 St Peters 19 14 0 5 487 305 65

4 Aberdare 19 10 1 8 451 382 54

5 Barry 18 11 0 7 399 325 53

6 Gilfach Goch 19 8 0 11 386 388 42

7 Llanishen 17 8 1 8 359 393 41

8 PENARTH 19 8 1 10 353 441 41

9 CRC Caerdydd 19 6 1 12 426 511 34

10 Pontyclun 19 6 1 12 316 457 33

11 Abercynon 18 4 1 13 259 411 26

12 Old Illtydians 19 4 0 15 306 504 24