AFTER a morning of heavy rain last Saturday the two teams with the poorest records in Division Three East Central (A) of the WRU National Leagues met under clear blue skies and the sunshine brought with it an expectation of good rugby. This was especially true for the Old Penarthians as they had performed well against tough opposition in their opening three games and after good training sessions under new coach Graham Mathews were looking forward to the encounter.

Those hopes were slightly dampened by the withdrawal of number eight and pack leader, Dai Roberts, on the morning of the match through injury but that was soon forgotten when an attacking play from within their own 22 in the first five minutes saw Simon Davies break free and run 40m downfield. Unfortunately his inside pass did not find support and the move floundered.

The momentum continued however and after ten minutes from an attacking scrum on the right hand touchline the forwards delivered the ball to Gareth Clancey. He passed to Jon Crimp and on to Mark Sadler. Sadler missed out Craig Haines and fed full back Lloyd Davey at speed who gave a try scoring pass to winger Davies for a score on the left hand touchline. Almost classic attacking threequarter play. Crimp converted from wide out for an Old Penarthians seven point advantage.

For the next fifteen minutes there was only one team likely to win and despite the absence of a fully functioning line out, where Jack Margetson was under pressure, the forwards were still able to produce a supply of ball from the loose where Joel deClaire and James Williams were always going forward and Mitch Penberthy was quick to the loose ball.

On twenty five minutes however deClaire badly cut the webbing of his hand (which later required stitches) and had to be replaced. Unfortunately this severely affected the management of the team as they had no natural leader to take over from him in the forwards. Then after 32 minutes Cowbridge were awarded a penalty which was converted by Tom Sterling. This 7 – 3 scoreline remained until the break.

In the second half the opposition played with the winds at their backs and it was always going to take a lot of effort from the home team forwards to make ground. They started well enough with rumbles from Gareth Boulton, Lee Brennan and Sam Hall but the play lacked any dynamic presence and too often the ball passed to the back line left them under pressure.

Then on ten minutes replacement flanker Dave Mason and his opposite number were yellow carded for throwing punches and from the ensuing penalty to Cowbridge, Sterling kicked the three points.

Old Penarthians did however continue to attack and Tom Sidford was an effective ball carrier into contact but on too many occasions he was left isolated by his team mates and from one such occasion under the opposition posts a penalty was awarded for not releasing. The quick thinking Cowbridge outside half tapped the ball and sprinted clear through some lazy defence. He passed to centre Huw Lougher who scored under posts for a converted try and a 13 – 7 Cowbridge lead.

A late flurry of replacements saw Danny Godfrey, Bally Salisbury and Ian Buckley enter the fray for Old Penarthians, who all tried their best, but by that time the optimistic mood from the first twenty minutes of the match had left the team. A final penalty kicked by Sterling from 40m gave Cowbridge a winning score of 16 – 7 and in so doing denied the home team even a consolation losing bonus point so it was a very dispirited set of players who trudged off the field at full time knowing there is much to do before the next fixture.

Next Saturday the first XV travel to St Albans for their next league fixture whilst the second XV entertain Rhiwbina at home and it is hoped that all players will make themselves available for this CADRU league match. Both games are due to kick off at 2.30pm.