Match report: Penygraig v Penarth

What actually happened was that somewhere in the middle of the third quarter, the penny dropped for Penygraig and they realised they had a totally dominant scrum and the Seasiders could do absolutely nothing about it.

It had all started so differently. As early as the 16th minute, Andy Richards ran in Penarth’s fourth try and claimed the bonus point. The early signs were there, though: they dominated in none of the key phases of the game with one exception: they kept scoring tries. This is what the Seasiders are really good at – give them a flat, wide pitch (Graig Park is ideal) and watch them score.

Harry Williams, back to his best, opened the scoring. Picture: Alun Roach

As early as the third minute, a penalty and a rolling maul into the 22 brought a fresh penalty and a 5m line-out. A clean take and James Docherty picked out Harry Williams with a miss pass and the centre strolled home. The second didn’t arrive until the 12th minute and what a try it was. The smooth handing move along the half-way line was a thing of beauty, but when Tom Griffiths made the line-break with Cam Sultana in support, the lock had only three defenders to beat, but made it look easy as he grounded under the posts.

By this time the Seasiders were simply looking way too good for the opposition, scrum-half Osian Phillips, making his first start of the season, was putting in a man-of-the match performance. Straight from the restart, Josh Hurley broke the defensive line on half-way and made a quick 20m. He feinted to head for the corner, but George Roberts was on hand to cut in at 45º to take the back-door pass from his full-back and head for the posts.

The Richards try was also a classy piece of work. Docherty fielded a goal-line drop-out near half-way and moved over towards the right-hand side of the field. Josh Hurley took pass at pace and fed his inside centre on the 22.

Harry Wood pounces for the fifth try. Picture: Alun Roach

0-26; game over? Not quite. ‘Graig no.8 Craig Lock pulled a try back on 25mins after some phase play in the Penarth 22 and Harry Wood replied with his side’s fifth try from close range. More pressure from the hosts led to a well-worked try as scrum-half Charlie Davey broke down the short side of a scrum to feed right wing Nicky May for his side’s second.

Penygraig’s half-time pep talk was all about how they had to concentrate on the scrum. Once they realised what they had, it was slow, but relentless one-way traffic. In fact, it took them until the 62nd minute to work out that regardless of the put-in, they could either drive the visitors’ pack off the ball or claim an inevitable penalty. Lock claimed his second from a re-set scrum to bring the score back to 17-31 and then repeated the trick with three minutes to go to reduce the deficit to a mere 7 points. The only way out remaining for the Seasiders was the final whistle and this arrived in the nick of time.

Penygraig (7) 24 Penarth (31) 31

Andy Richards brings up the bonus point with the fourth. Picture: Alun Roach

Penarth welcome sixth-placed Clwb Rygbi Cymry Caerdydd to the Athletic Field on Saturday. With only Llanharan in hot pursuit, every one of the five remaining games (including the home fixture against Llanharan themselves on the following Wednesday evening) is a ‘must-win’.

Penarth: Josh Hurley (Ben Jones), George Roberts, Harry Williams, Andy Richards, Josh Powell, James Docherty, Osian Phillips, Harry Wood (Rhys Newman), Tom Griffiths, Geraint Williams, Nathan Frost, Cam Sultana, Mike Lane (Matt Allen), Miles Jones ©, Harry Roberts.

Scorers: Harry Williams (try), George Roberts (try), Cam Sultana (try), Andy Richards (try), Harry Wood (try), Josh Hurley (4 conversions).