IT'S been a great month of rugby for the Penarth RFC Youth, which last Saturday culminated in a superb away victory at the 'House of Pain' in Pontypridd.

The Penarth boys outplayed Pontypridd with a fine performance, running out winners by 24 -14 to take a bonus point in their last Blues Youth Premier League Cup game of the season.

The away win ended a great month of rugby for the Youth team following a fine performance winning against Bath Colts on Good Friday.

Following the Bath game, the boys took their winning form on tour to Newquay, Cornwall, where they beat Saltash Colts 55-21, and then returned to Penarth to gain a solid bonus point home victory in the Blues Youth League against Rumney Youth.

Last Saturday the Youth team travelled to Pontypridd to play at Sardis Road.

It was the Penarth boys who breached the try line early after only six minutes on the clock, when great play from the Penarth front row of Geraint Williams, Tom Griffiths and Connor Mitchel made inroads into the Pontypridd 22m.

rom the breakdown, quick ball from scrum half Aled Rees saw outside-half Joe Williams put centre Mike Halligan into space and he crashed through the Pontypridd back line to score under the post to open up the scoring with a converted try.

With a stern talk behind the post from the Pontypridd Youth coaches, the home team restarted with more determination and applied pressure on the Penarth boys causing mistakes to creep in as they attempted to create quick ball, rather than building a platform.

It was Pontypridd that struck back after 20 minutes, when after disrupting the Penarth defensive line, the Ponty outside centre scored in the corner to pull a converted try back.

Despite some fine defensive tackling from the Penarth boys, which saw the loss of No 8 Hugh Leach, Ponty took control and on 24 minutes the home side crashed over under the posts to take them into a half-time lead of 14-7.

Encouragement from Penarth coaches, Dai Williams, Simon Rees and Huw Wiltshire which centred around playing a quicker wider game, saw the Penarth boys start positively in the second half.

With the back row of Thaine Baker and Cameron Sultana starting to dominate the break down area the Pontypridd forwards started to infringe on the floor as they desperately tried to win the ball resulting in a yellow card for their openside flanker.

With replacement Owain Jones and second row Alex Shore starting to dominate the line out, it allowed Williams to kick to the Pontypridd 22m line pinning them back.

From a resulting line out won by Jones, the Penarth forwards drove forward, and as the maul broke, scrum half Aled Rees drew the Ponty defence before cutting inside and scoring a great try in the corner to put Penarth back into the game. With a wonderful strike from Williams through the posts from the touchline, it brought the team level.

Strong runs by centre Matt Frost and wingers Morgan Jenkings and Will Hardy saw Penarth awarded a penalty slotted by Williams.

Thanks to the dominance of Jones, Shore and Sultana in the lineout, it was Penarth who bossed the last quarter.

Replacement Matt Wiltshire's counter attack from full-back saw a slick move which put centre Halligan through a gap to score and Penarth won 24-14 with a bonus point to take them to 2nd place in the Blues Tier 1 table.

Moving to the Blues Premier Youth league this season has been a great experience for the boys who have been outstanding all season.

The club would like to also thank the hard work of the coaches and committee who have taken time to support and guide the side.