Match Report - 26th November 2011

St Albans 1st XV 44 v Old Penarthians RFC 1st XV 17 (SWALEC League)

Last Saturday saw the Old Penarthians first XV under the leadership of Mark Sadler travel to Tremorfa Park in Cardiff to play against St Albans in a fixture in Division 5SE of the WRU SWALEC sponsored leagues.  Like Penarthians, the Buns had not started well in the league winning only two of their matches and at the start of the day were one place below and one point behind in the league.  It was therefore a game that coach Jeff Norman was targeting for a reversal of recent form.

The reality was however somewhat different as on a very windy day the home team came out to play with an intent and game plan that was far superior to that put in practice by the visitors.  The St Albans team played with a directness that ensured support was always on hand and their backs and forwards combined well to turn their chances into points.

On the other hand the Old Penarthians early plans were disrupted by the late arrival of second row Tony Kemp through work commitments, but that was in no way an excuse for the almost lack of tactical awareness that was exhibited by the team when playing with the strong wind in the first half.  Ground was far too easily given away by ineffective tackling and poor ‘dog-legged’ defensive alignments that left gaps which outside half Nathan Hayes willingly accepted with neat passing to his supporting runners.

One player who could not be criticised for his efforts at the tackle was however Sean Leach, who despite being the smallest forward on the field was far and away the best defender often making one tackle before getting back to his feet and immediately making another in an attempt to stop the tide of brown and gold attackers.

The game started with Old Penarthians playing with the conditions and the slope and initially the visitors had some territorial advantage and Huw Liddell was given the first opportunity to put points on the board with a penalty kick from thirty five metres.  The kick however was wide of the posts.

It was then that the Buns driving play took effect and despite good tackles from Tom Sidford and Mark Smart the home side were spending more and more time in the Penarthians twenty two.  Pressure led to penalties being conceded and after two quickly taken tap penalties number eight, Mike O’Sullivan crashed over for an unconverted try.

On seventeen minutes, came perhaps the luckiest moment of the game when St Albans were attacking on the half way line and passing the ball along their backs.  Mark Sadler advanced to tackle and in so doing knocked the ball to the ground.  The ball bounced up straight back into Sadler’s arms.  For a moment everyone seemed to stand still awaiting the referee’s whistle, but no sound was heard, other than other Penarthians shouting at the skipper to run.  Which he did to good effect, running the forty five yards to score under the posts, for Liddell to convert.

The smiles were however short lived as a fly kick from full back Scott McCarthy failed to fine touch and from the resulting scrum a penalty was awarded.  St Albans again took a quick tap and on twenty six minutes flanker Patrick Collins scored a try that went unconverted.  The score was then ten points to seven in favour of St Albans.

Eleven minutes later St Albans scored again through Paul Holden, and this time the kick by Luke Phillips was successful.  Despite strong scrummaging from Lee Brennan and Peter Harry, the loose play was still not being managed well and before the end of the half Phillips kicked a penalty to leave the score at twenty points to seven.

The start of the second half was to prove the end of the contest when within eight awful minutes the home team scored 19 unanswered points.  Tries were scored by Paul Holden sandwiched between two for Nathan Hayes. Luke Phillips converted two to make the score 34 points to 7.

Strong words from Alun Haines behind the posts during the last conversion seemed to strengthen the resolve of the Penarthians team and for the rest of the half they played with a commitment that had been sadly lacking for the previous fifty minutes.  Ball retention, playing against the wind, became a priority and the forwards started to assert themselves with driving mauls.  Scrum half Simon Davies directed the effort with some clever breaks but mainly it was the forwards who took the responsibility.

Steve Webber who had by now replaced Harry, together with Brennan, Sidford and Smart were prominent as the visitors moved through the phases to enter the opposition twenty two.  The pressure put the Buns in problems for the first time and a series of infringements meant that the home team were reduced in numbers with a yellow card offence.  Tony Kemp, on as a half time substitute was also making an impression and from a scrum a penalty for not binding was awarded.  Davies took it quickly and dived under the defensive tacklers to score from five yards out.

Despite this improvement St Albans took advantage of further poor tackling and scored another unconverted try.  To their credit the Old Penarthians did have the last word when more good work in the loose from centres Jonathan Crimp and Sadler, now joining the forward effort, gained ground only for winger Alex Lewis to be forced into touch a couple of metres from the try line. 

A scrum resulted from the line out and when that collapsed Davies took another quick penalty to release Smart to score for the second time in two weeks.  This was the last score of the game and the final result was a loss by 44 points to seventeen.