Penarth 31-47 Cambrian Welfare
This was where Cambrian re-established themselves as the hosts’ bogey team as an out-of-sorts Penarth came up short in a chaotic cup tie at the Athletic Field.
The Welfare were out for revenge after their earlier league defeat and were busy and abrasive throughout.
Admittedly, the home side were missing a number of their regular first-choice players, but this wasn’t the full story, as they managed to come up with five tries of their own, despite leaking seven at the other end.
Cambrian took an early lead as a run of penalties gave them field position [0-7].
Penarth stuttered back into action, as Luc Keane-Adams made up for an earlier fumble by making a clean break from his own 10-metre line, drawing the defence and setting up Ben Jones to finish from 25m [7-7].
Charlie Rainbird soon replaced an injured Harry Williams, and the back-line was re-jigged accordingly.
While the penalties against count remained high, there was still time for a Spencer Robinson special as part of his man-of-the-match performance.
The scrum-half fielded a clearance kick on half-way, then slalomed through the defence, shaking off tackles and scoring under the posts [14-7].
Even so, while things weren’t quite right with Penarth, it was a relief when Sam Sully took control of proceedings.
The nimble prop broke clear from half-way and then outpaced the chasing defenders as he raced to the posts [21-7].
This was the high-water mark of the Seasiders’ afternoon and, despite leading by three tries to one, they were never to seriously challenge again, as a deluge of Cambrian tries took the game decisively away from the hosts.
The visitors struck back immediately in the seconds remaining of the first half [21-14].
The second half opened with a lot of Penarth passes, but zero penetration and the Welfare found it all too easy to work their way around a static defence for the equalising try [21-21].
They then added another three tries before the hour to lead [21-40] as the Seasiders struggled to keep up.
In the final quarter, Penarth at last managed to steady the ship and tries from Tom Griffiths [26-40] and Olly Smith [31-40] brought a bit of respectability to the scoreline, but the visitors had the final say, as they scored a disappointing seventh from close range.
Due to the international break for the Nations Championship, there are no more games scheduled until November 21, when ninth-placed Dowlais are the visitors.
The club from the Heads of the Valleys had a better time of it in the cup, defeating Division 1 East's Abertillery BG 50-12.
Coach Owain George summed up the game: “A very tough, physical encounter.
"Credit to Cambrian, they brought a lot of intensity and effort which we just couldn’t match on the day.
"Our focus now turns to our league campaign and a tough set of fixtures in the run up to Christmas.”
Penarth: Harry Williams (Charlie Rainbird), Luc Keane-Adams, Tiaan Arthur, Olly Smith, Callem Richardson (Ethan Goldsworthy), Ben Jones, Spencer Robinson, Sam Sully, Mason Good (Tom Griffiths), Iestyn Vagges (Rowan Merrett), Dom Owen, Dan Cahalane, Kian Lloyd (Dewi Coslett), Matt Allen, Ellis Smith.
Scorers: Ben Jones (try, three conversions), Spencer Robinson (try), Sam Sully (try), Tom Griffiths (try), Olly Smith (try)
Penarth's next game will be on Saturday, November 21, at home against Dowlais in Division 1 East Central.
Kick off will be at 2.30pm.
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