Match Report - 5th November 2011

Old Penarthians 2nd XV 14 v Llanharan 2nd XV 71 (SA Brain East District Cup)

The second XV played at home to Llanharan in the first round of the SA Brain East District Cup competition and in a very good spirited match well refereed by Chris Tarbuck were eventual losers by 71 points to 14 points.

By the bare facts of the result this may seem to be one sided match but that was far from the truth with the old Penarthians acquitting themselves very well against a side whose first team play in Division 1 of the National Leagues.  In particular the veteran front row of Peter Harry, Crevvie and Neil Margetson, with a combined age approaching 140, made experience tell as they dominated their younger opponents in the scrummages.  Crevvie even had the energy to sprint the one yard necessary for him to score the team’s try, which when added to the three penalties scored by Scott McCarthy gave the home side their fourteen points.

This was however not enough to beat the opposition.  In fact it was not sufficient points to beat the Llanharan centre Nicky Bees who scored an individual 53 points from seven tries and nine conversions.  This was an exceptional performance and despite all the endeavours of sidelined skipper Ian Buckley, Bees would not play the last twenty minutes of the game for the Old Penarthians in an attempt to even up the scores.  He was however presented the man-of-the-match award and he took nearly as long to drink it as he did to score all his points.  Maybe a transfer to Old Penarthians would not be in his best interests!

In a game where hard work was necessary to contain the opposition, special mention should be made of the efforts of fireman Mark Bow, barman Rhys Williams, tackler extraordinaire Rhys Thomas, and the three footballers, including Liam Wingren, who volunteered for substitute duties when their fixture was cancelled.  The team was also strengthened by the appearance of the recently capped Philippine International, Stuart Gunnarsson, who represented his country of residence in a Veterans game against Thailand.  Unfortunately Stuart found the Llanharen opposition to be slightly taller than he has become used to and his size was not such an advantage.