Match Report - 28th January 2012

Ferndale RFC 0 v Old Penarthians RFC 1st XV 19 (SWALEC League)

Saturday saw the Old Penarthians 1st XV travel to Ferndale at the top of the Rhondda Fach Valley to play in a Division 5SE league fixture fresh from a home success against St Josephs the week before.  The spirit on the coach travelling to the game was therefore buoyant as in the league meeting with Ferndale earlier in the season Old Pens had been the victors by 28 points to 11.  The mood must have been passed to the coach driver as he managed the journey in double quick time to ensure that the visitors arrived at the ground before 1.30pm and way before the opposition had arrived to open their changing facilities.

This left the travellers and their supporters plenty of time to warm up and observe the natural beauty of this part of the valleys if not the pitch which was something of a quagmire following the week’s rainfall.  The pitch was however playable and with coach Jeff Norman asking for a tight game to be played the ground was more than suitable.

In particular it suited Noel Etxragary who excelled in the close quarter work with very effective ball carrying ensuring that territory was gained and the ball retained for further progress.  He was admirably assisted by Mark Smart, Tom Sidford, Jippy Evans, Andy Gill and Tony Kemp who all showed an appetite for the hard work necessary to overcome the opposition and the heavy conditions.

It was also pleasing to see Lee Brennan enjoying the tussle and he was seen to turn the ball over in the loose as well as making good defensive tackles.  This aligned to his and Peter Harry’s undoubted scrummaging prowess made sure that the whole pack acted as a unit to dominate their opponents.  This was particularly apparent at the scrum phase of the game where the pack easily pushed their opponents around to ensure that pressure was constantly on the Ferndale eight.  For all that pressure however lessons learnt from the game against St Joes were not adequately translated into points and far too many chances created were not taken, either by an early release or a poor decision.

That said it does not detract from a much improved performance where the forwards were willing exponents of the training pitch routines rather than onlookers awaiting someone else to do the hard yards.  If the attitude against Ferndale can be continued there will be more success to come.

All this talk of the forwards would lead you to think that the backs did not have a part to play in this performance but nothing can be further from the truth as each member of the three-quarter line had something to offer.  They may not have seen much of the ball in attack but both tries came through the backs and their defensive effort when reduced to fourteen men, following the sin binning of scrum half Gareth Jones, in the last twenty minutes of the game ensured that their line was not crossed.  Discipline in the loose was also good and no penalties were given away foolishly.  All this meant that for the first time this season the opposition failed to score.

Particular defensive work credit should be given to Jonathan Crimp, who, playing his last game of the season before going on his world travels, twice turned the ball over ‘Sam Warburton style’ under his own posts and to Simon Davies, who took a ‘shoeing’ for his try saving tackle on the try-line.

The Old Penarthians started the game with a kick to the opposition and they were immediately put under pressure by the advancing Andy Gill and Tony Kemp which resulted in a line out to the home team.  They cleared their lines but straight to Richie Moir on the wing who collected well and ran at the opposition.  Support was on hand from his fellow backs and at the ruck Ferndale were penalised.  A kick to the corner by suntanned Scott McCarthy, recently returned from a holiday in his native Oz but missing the Speedo tan lines, started a twenty minute session of Penarthians pressure.

In that period the Penarthians team put together a string of eight or nine phases of play from just inside their own half taking play into the Ferndale twenty-two.  The ball was released to McCarthy who passed to Crimp, he stepped inside his opposite number in front of the posts and found Etxragary in support.  From the ruck the ball was released quickly and skipper Mark Sadler scored a try to the left of the posts.  The try was not converted by McCarthy and the score was 5 points to nil

Further good back play from a scrum in mid field saw Davies released on an arching run before passing to Huw Liddell on the wing.  He made ground before chipping ahead and putting more pressure on the Ferndale full back.  This time Ferndale could not clear their lines and a scrum infringement on thirty two minutes gave McCarthy the chance at a penalty that he accepted for three points and an eight points to nil lead.
On thirty eight minutes McCarthy kicked another penalty and with the whistle for half time expected another nine minutes were played before the half time score could be recorded as 11 -0.  The score should probably been more and it gave coach Norman the opportunity to remind his players that they had to continue to concentrate and stay with the game plan.  At the same time he made a substitution by introducing Dave Mason into the game as hooker in place of the injured Evans

The Old Penarthians were reminded straight away that their concentration must be maintained as for the first time in the match Ferndale got to within ten metres of the try-line.  Tackling resisted the charges and the ball was kicked to touch.  Some exchanges of territory saw the match more evenly contested and not until the eighteenth minute did McCarthy extend the lead to fourteen points with another penalty.
At this stage Paul Kemp replaced the exhausted Etxragary and Charles Gore replaced Liddell.  Gore making his debut for the first team after some impressive games in the seconds and on the training pitch became the sixtieth player to represent the team this season.

Then came the yellow card for Jones and the strong defensive showing.  It also brought the final score of the game, when from an Old Penarthians defensive line-out on their own twenty-two the ball was lost to Ferndale.  In an attempt to launch an attack their outside half misdirected a pass, the ball stuck in the mud and Mark Sadler picked up the ball to race seventy metres to score a try in the corner.  The conversion was missed but the final score was recorded at 19 points to nil.