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OLD ILLTYDIANS 30

PENARTH 8

ON THE LOVELIEST day of the rugby season last Saturday, the Seasiders finally let us in on the secret of how they've lost so many games this season.

A 40-minute lesson in advanced cluelessness after the break threw the game in the direction of an unbelieving Old Illtydians outfit who had looked down and out after 30 minutes.

The key to the game should have been striking a balance between the opposing forces of a stiff breeze and a prodigious slope, but it was only the hosts who got that right and walked out easy winners.

Playing up the slope with the wind at their backs in the first half, Penarth proceeded to put huge pressure on the hosts in the tight and the loose and it was only the line-out that needed some adjustment.

Assault after assault went in on the Illts' line for fully 15 minutes when the ball never left the home half. The only problem is that when you dominate so much and fail to score, the opposition eventually get encouraged; but that didn't happen for a while.

The Seasiders should have finally hauled themselves into the lead on 17 minutes, but James Docherty pulled it wide from 25 metres, a trick he was to repeat 6 minutes later.

Meanwhile the back division were linking superbly with the pack in a dazzling display of champagne rugby, conveniently ignoring the fact that far from being the three scores up they might have been, the game was still scoreless.

A piece of intelligent attacking play finally unlocked the Illts' defence on the half-hour. Having been advised that the full-back was not at home due to rucking duties, Andrew Edwards hoisted a trademark box kick for the wings to chase and Chris Thorn won the race to a fortunate bounce.

Illtydians finally broke into the away half from the restart and the referee was quick to award them a penalty, which the full-back duly converted for a half-time score of 3-5.

Although Penarth started the second half looking as if they meant it, the hosts soon got the measure of the breeze and took the lead on their first foray with another penalty.

There were early signs that the Seasiders had already run out of ideas as a 49th minute drop goal extended the lead to 9-5. A brief glimpse of what might have been was offered by Lloyd Davey, attacking from the restart and gaining a penalty from a late tackle which Docherty converted, but the game was resolutely slipping away from the hapless visitors.

The favoured tactic was to kick away any and all possession that came the Seasiders' way and Illtydians accepted the free ride with disbelief which soon turned to relish. An early recipient of all this generosity was their right wing, who put in a masterful side-step on the far touchline to lose two tacklers and then accelerated smoothly away for his side's first try of the afternoon on the hour.

More misery ensued for the travelling support with the score apparently finely balanced at 16-8 as the aimless kicking into the wind continued and it was only two late tries in the last five minutes that allowed the score to accurately reflect the superiority Penarth had yielded to the hosts for the final 40 minutes.

A fundamental reappraisal of how this talented squad approaches the game of rugby union is clearly long overdue as a disappointing season, admittedly and thankfully at a higher level, draws to its close.

PENARTH: Davey, Thorn, Bevan, Lakin, Crothers, Docherty, Edwards, Merrett, Jordan Davies, Power, Howden (D Blake (Thorpe), Gooding, Allen, Clare, Esterhuizen.

8:07am Thursday 1st May 2008

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