Match Report - 14th January 2012

Old Penarthians RFC 1st XV 11 v Cefn Coed 1st XV 41 (SWALEC League)

On a day when the pitches at the north of the Merthyr Valley were frozen causing matches in that part of the world to be cancelled it was probably just as well that Old Penarthians were playing host to Cefn Coed.  It ensured that the match was played because despite a hard frost the night before the pitch was in good condition for rugby.  The wind may have been a bit keen but that did not spoil a sporting contest between two teams at the opposite ends of the Division 5SE table.

Cefn Coed had been the victors in the match earlier in the season by 27 points to 5 and unfortunately the visitors again returned home with the spoils, winning by 41 points to 11.  The Old Penarthians performances in the previous couple of weeks against two of the top teams in the division had suggested that the side may have been turning a corner but the showing against Cefn Coed suggests that there is still work to do on the training pitch.  Coach Jeff Norman will be looking for a similar commitment from the players to training as shown in the last couple of weeks, and the lessons learnt can be implemented prior to the next match.

Cefn Coed themselves had lost only two games prior to this meeting and have an ambition to push for top honours.  They have a strong robust pack with a very good flanker, Alex Dalton at the heart of most of their action.  Scrum half Ryan Sullivan has also been a stand out player for them in recent matches against the Old Pens and he was again to perform well scoring two of his team’s tries. With outside half John Lewis dictating the plays, Cefn could well be contenders.

The start of the game immediately saw Cefn Coed exerting pressure in the Old Penarthians twenty-two and they showed their intentions when within six minutes they decided to run two penalty kicks rather than opt for kicks at goal.  Both attacks were repelled by the home team with hard tackles from Jippy Evans and Paul Kemp.  The reward came however when from a defensive scrum hooked well by Evans a mix up between Alun Haines and Gareth Jones saw the scrum half pass weakly and flanker Dalton pick up the loose ball and claim the try.

Penarthians responded well and exerted pressure themselves through forward runs from Dave Mason and Tony Kemp drawing a penalty from referee Mark Condron.  This allowed Jonathan Crimp his first attempt at goal for the season which he duly dispatched on 10 minutes to make the score 5 -3.

Unfortunately Crimp was not so accurate with his line kicking and a missed touch finder into the opposition twenty two saw Cefn Coed run the ball out of defence.  In mid field they lost possession and with an apparent advantage Old Pens attacked again through Lloyd Davey and Mark Sadler.  Unfortunately at the break down the support was not quick enough and the ball was stripped for scrum half Sullivan to run in from half way to score under the posts.  The conversion was added by Lewis.

One aspect of the performance that was pleasing on the day was the dominance of the scrum and Old Penarthians throughout the match had their opponents under pressure.  From one such scrum inside the Cefn twenty-two Lee Brennan and Peter Harry exerted the pressure for a take against the head.  This in turn led to an offside offense by Cefn and a second successful penalty kick by Crimp.

Cefn responded quickly and from another tap penalty ran at the Penarthians three-quaters, who tackled poorly to allow winger Martin Thomas to make the most of an overlap to score wide out by the touch flag.  Lewis added the conversion with a well judged kick.

Again a series of poor kicks could not relieve the pressure and give the forwards a well deserved rest so the Cefn attacks continued and on 39 minutes more poor tackling saw Sullivan score again.  To make matters worse the referee allowed some six minutes of added time and it was enough time for Cefn to score a fifth try through Thomas again to make the half time score 29 points to 6.

Strong words at half time from captain and coach gave more spirit to the side and for twenty minutes the contest was more evenly contested with both Simon Davies and James Williams attacking from deep positions with varying amounts of success.  In fact two attacking lineouts led to forward drives with Evans and Brennan to the fore and these in turn resulted in an attacking five metre scrummage.  Cefn collapsed the scrum and from a tap penalty Evans drove to the line.  He was stopped short but with supporting forwards shielding the ball, scrum half Jones was able to fire a quick miss pass to winger Richie Moir who crossed for a try. The conversion was narrowly missed by Crimp from a wide angle.

The come-back was however short lived and from the kick off territory was conceded and after a series of plays a clever chip kick over the heads of the approaching defenders saw replacement centre Alex Bevan run on to the bouncing ball to collect and score. 
The last ten minutes were generally played in the Old Penarthians half and on the stroke of full time full back Tim Phillips scored a try to be converted by Thomas to make the final score 41 -11.