LAST Saturday at the behest of Cardiff RFC and in front of 'the benefactor' (and on his pitch) Old Penarthians RFC Under-14's played Llandaff Under-14's. The game was a curtain raiser to Cardiff RFC's game versus Aberavon RFC.

Llandaff started the game the quicker and scored an early try which was converted. The Old Pens head coach Andy Petersen was fearing the worst, however despite playing into the strong wind the Old Pens ball retention and strong running from the likes of Adam Hall and Jack Garrett meant that the game was being played in the Llandaff half.

Against the run of play the Llandaff fast moving backs produced a wonderful length of the pitch try to go up by 14 unanswered points. However, Old Pens responded well and continued to play most of the rugby in the Llandaff portion of the pitch. Jack Petersen, Curtis Finch and Cian Edwards were a strong breakaway unit and continued to put pressure on the opposition.

The Penarthians squad of 24 was being utilised and this assisted in the forwards taking control up front with useful contributions coming from Robert Couzens, Daniel Harris and Matin Khan. This forward dominance resulted in a poachers try wide out from Dan Cozma.

At half-time the score remained 14 - 5 in Llandaff's favour.

With the wind now in Old Pens favour they started brightly with both backs and forwards combining well. There was yardage being made by full back Kian Lewis together with evasive bursts from lively backs James Chapman, Calan Cross and Matthew O'Callaghan. Unfortunately the Cardiff sides back play was again excellent in that despite living off scraps they again crafted a try to make it 21-5.

The Penarthians refused to give up and under the influential play of captain Steffan Crimp the Old Pens grew in confidence and this resulted in a barn storming run and eventually a try from man of the match Owain Lewis.

The young Penarth side were now on top assisted by some ill-discipline from Llandaff. Liam Parker, Keiran Bowen, Ben Britton-Dennis, Joe Duffy, Joe Moores and the Gibbs twins of Kian and Lloyd were all working tirelessly and their good work enabled fleet-footed Morgan James to grab the third try diving in at the corner.

Crimp was unable to convert any of the tries from the touch lines blaming his kicking coach, first team pivot, Jon Crimp, as he had done in reverse the previous week.

This led to an exciting final five minutes of play where Llandaff held out for the win. This was an excellent game of rugby, expertly refereed and appreciated by the many spectators. Thanks need to be extended to Cardiff and Llandaff for their hospitality.

Old Pens should be proud of their efforts against a strong Llandaff side and hopefully this will bode well for the rest of the season.