Match Report

Old Penarthians suffered something of a severe shock to their system on Saturday last when the senior side travelled to Blackwood for the latest round of fixtures in the SWALEC National League. Hosts Blackwood Stars are newcomers to Division 5 South East, having been promoted during the summer by virtue of achieving the runners-up spot in Division 6 East, and have yet to be invited into membership of the W.R.U.. Nevertheless, they have made an impressive start to the new season with victories over Penygraig, Cowbridge, and Dinas Powys.

Whilst recent seasons have shown that these three sides, in company with the Old Boys, have not been amongst the strongest in the division, Scott McCarthy and his men were hopeful that a good performance would have been enough for them to kick start their own campaign with a victory on the final Saturday of the opening month.

To be fair, that appeared to be a possibility throughout the whole of an evenly balanced opening session. On a superb afternoon of sunshine, full back Tom Draper gave notice of intent with a fine run straight from the kick off. The Stars, however, drew first blood with a penalty from centre Simon Hughes, only for that strike to be more than matched with the magnificent goal that Scott McCarthy landed from full 45 yards out and close to the touchline.

There were, however, early signs that the Old Boys were experiencing problems up front in coping with the jumbo sized home eight at the set scrums and a second penalty enabled Hughes to re-establish the lead for his side. In the meantime, the cleanest lineout ball also went the way of the home side with their Skipper and flank forward coping comfortably with the accurate delivery of his hooker. Despite the early lack of possession, Penarthians still showed the greater enterprise in their approach and there were further excellent runs from the outstanding Tom Draper, Simon Davies, and Steve Mohring.

Play continued of an end to end nature until 37 minutes into the half when a loose clearance from Scott McCarthy put the home full back in possession just outside the Stars 25. Quickly on the counter, the full back linked neatly with his colleagues and an excellent movement swept across the field until left wing Nathan Harris was fed at pace close to touch and he did ever so well to crash over at the corner flag. The conversion attempt failed. The score seemed to inspire the visitors and Simon Davies set up a move following a lineout on the left that saw the ball pass through several pairs of hands before Danny Godfrey attacked the corner flag on the opposite flank only to succumb to the final cover when well in sight of the line.

Whilst the opening session came to an end with Scott McCarthy off target with another difficult penalty attempt, the Skipper made amends just 3 minutes after the break when his strike from the 10 yard line and out to the left unerringly reached the post to reduce the gap to just 5 points. It was, however, at this point that the hosts really turned the screw up front and a series of scrums in sight of the line resulted in the string of penalties that put the Old Boys under desperately extreme pressure. Indeed, it came as no surprise, albeit to the delight of the home supporters, that the patience of the Referee was eventually exhausted, resulting in the award of the penalty try that was converted by centre Simon Hughes.

Unable to find a counter to the pressure exerted by the Blackwood jumbos, Penarthian nerves became frayed but that was not a situation that excused Tony Kemp from giving vent to his probable frustration by was of comparatively minor backchat to the Referee that nevertheless resulted in ten minutes in the bin at a time that his presence was vital to the Penarthian cause. Of course there was a price to pay. A chip to the corner saw Richard Moir do well to catch the ball. He was, however, swallowed by the opposition and, from the scrum that followed, substitute flanker Terence Watkins capitalised on the drive supplied by his fellows to force his way over wide out. Hughes again added the extra points.

Although then back to full complement, Penarthians lost a strike against the head from a 5 yard scrum on the half hour and the lively Watkins again took advantage to drive over for the touchdown that earned his side a bonus point, Hughes adding the extra points with his third successful conversion attempt.

Simon Davies was then in the action with a fine run that saw him hand on to Steve Mohring but Danny Godfrey’s progress on the right ended for lack of support. Further problems for the visitors came with the retirement of Taz Rosoman that necessitated the switch to uncontested scrums for the final ten minutes and this did afford a certain relief for the side that saw a defiant flourish from Mark Sadler and Tim Naylor only for the final pass to elude the grasp of Tom Draper.

There were few excuses from the players after the game, the whole squad realising that they had been outplayed by the better pack on the day. There are lessons that must be learned and there are areas within the side that need to be addressed if progress is to be made. Certainly, there will be few sets of opponents stronger than the Blackwood eight but this does not excuse the current difficulties being faced in establishing a steady platform up front.

Paul Langley and Stuart Gunnarsson worked hard in the second row whilst Adrian Penny was always prepared to take play to the opposition. Flankers Scott Hill and Sean Leech also tackled their hearts out but they were largely up against it in opposition to much bigger opposite numbers.

Behind the scrum, Simon Davies did well in his first senior game of the term whilst Skipper Scott McCarthy was sound outside him. Nevertheless, the lack of possession was again a factor that limited the opportunities for a useful back line in which Tom Draper was always prominent whilst Mark Sadler made the very best of his late appearance by emerging as the side’s top tackler.

Late withdrawals and the absence of Skipper James Williams threatened to jeopardise the chances of the Seconds fulfilling their fixture away to Llanishen. Fortunately, the cancellation of the Penarth Youth game brought a welcome influx of volunteers although it took some time for the squad to gel. Indeed, the hosts dominated the first half to such an extent that they led by 22 points to nil at the break. The second half, however, was a different story as the ebullient Mark Bow hectored and harried his men to such good effect that a shock result was almost on the cards. Sadly, although the Old Boys edged the second session by 22 points to 15, the first half deficit ensured that the Cardiff side carried the day by 37 points to 22.

In addition to Bow, Penarthians were well served up front by the experience of Matt Turner who helped to bring the best out of youngsters Alex Towel, Scott Mackie, and Brett Chandler. Dan Vale was to be congratulated on achieving his first ever 80 minutes of action, a feat emulated by Gareth Boulton who actually failed to call for first aid treatment. There was a useful fly half performance from Rowan Alcock whilst the lively Huw Williams was always a threat on the wing