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PENARTH 7 BEDLINOG 43 UNTIL 20 minutes from the end of this encounter with their bete noir' side, Penarth were in with a shout of exorcising the ghost of their highly questionable defeat on the Foxes' home turf early in the season.

Then in the last minutes they lost all shape and the top-of-the-table visitors ran in tries at will to hand out a lesson in the arts of running rugby.

The start was very different. Despite Bedlinog having advantage of the blustery breeze, Penarth opted for an attacking philosophy ably guided by Rhys Lakin demonstrating his full portfolio.

He lit up the first quarter with astute choices between the half break and setting up his three quarters, notably the bullocking charges of Dafydd Hobbs.

One outrageous Lakin dummy was bought by the whole visiting defence and with an inch or two more space he would have escaped a full pack of tackles.

At this early stage the Penarth pack, invigorated by the return of Peter Bennett and some penetrating charges from Richard Ball, was in the ascendancy.

All the groundwork was being done carefully and patiently, territorial advantage was with the home side but the final cutting edge was lacking and no points ensued.

As often in such situations it was the team on the back foot who got the break. Mr Mota of Taffs Well had been taking exception to Penarth's eagerness around the breakdown and gave Bedlinog's Heath the benefit of 3 easy penalty points.

More significantly ten minutes later he identified Penarth hands in the ruck and Bedlinog were so alert with a tap penalty that James Crothers was left defending an impossible three on one. Bedlinog's Hiscox accepted a simple run in under the posts.

So after a half hour of comparative superiority the home side were faced by 10 point deficit.

Their disappointment was compounded by an electrifying interception and clear break by Andrew Edwards that was called back for an offside that could be attributed to his speed of thought and action rather than illegal positioning.

Sadly he was to execute exactly the same move later in the game - this time whilst the referee was happy, he himself just lacked the gas to clear the defence.

So at half time the home side had mixed feelings about their 10 point deficit when they could easily have been sitting in the lead. However with the wind advantage in the second half there was a real opportunity to turn the game around.

This hope was dealt a blow early on when a sucker punch or rather, hack, from within the Bedlinog half bounced awkwardly for the defence and allowed number 15 Jones to sneak round the back door and put the visitors 17 points to nil up.

Not despairing the Penarth pack ground on and this time put the shove on from 5 metres. Mike Clare's touch down was a formality.

There followed a key lapse of concentration. Just at the time when continued focus and control were essential Bedlinog were allowed to bounce straight back.

Once more they recycled quickly from the breakdown and their full back found himself faced by a defensive line that had not properly reformed. Not pausing to say thanks he just sped through a cavernous gap. The points difference was 17 once again.

From here on one of the key differences between the two sides became more and more apparent. This was the speed of ball distribution.

Whilst the home side were steady they lacked the edge to trouble the defence. The visitors displayed the quick hands that regularly put attackers into space and able to cross the gain line.

Despite using substitutes Penarth were unable to contain this fluency in attack or to prevent three tries being run in against them in the last five minutes alone.

The coaching team have a number of things to iron out in preparation for Saturday's trip up the Rhondda to Treorchy.

PENARTH: James Docherty; Bryn Cobbold; Geraint Blake; Dafydd Hobbs (Ceri Moorcraft); James Crothers; Rhys Lakin; Andrew Edwards; Richard Merrett; Peter Bennett (Gareth Sullivan); Gary Power; Darrol Howden; Paul Gooding (James Thorpe); Richard Ball (Damion Blake); James Cosslett; Mike Clare.

8:33am Thursday 27th March 2008

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