1st November 2008
Caerphilly 19 v 15 Penallta
Penallta visited neighbours Caerphilly last Saturday and were unlucky to loose
in what was their best performance of the season.
As in all of their away games Penallta started slowly with Caerphilly winning all the ball and running freely from all areas of the field. Danny Ellis opened the scoring with a neat drop goal and this was added to shortly after when a loose pass was picked up by Caerphilly's left winger who was allowed to run laterally across the field before finding his hooker with a nicely timed pass to canter over in the corner.
Penallta then took control of the game and were unlucky not to score when Richard Rowe cut through the first line of defence but was tackled by the full back. Penallta continued to press and took advanage of the sin binning of the Caerphilly prop to score a try by winger Karl Rees after a blind side move.
Penalltas Gavin Davies was then yellow carded for taking out the Caerphilly scrum half after a quickly taken penalty. Caerphilly increased their lead with a penalty by Danny Ellis.
Penallta started the second half with the wind in their favour but within 5 minutes paid the price for a missed tackle which allowed the Caerphilly centre to cut through for a try. With Penallta gaining parity in the scrums and dominating the lineout through Geraint Thomas, young scrum half Howie Walsh started to influence the game. However the referee continued to bemuse the crowd with strange decisions in the ruck area and flashed the yellow card to Penallta's Devin Morgan and the Caerphilly blinside flanker.
Penallta scored their second try when after two forward drives the ball was sent out to the backs resulting in Shaun Robson to show his speed and strength by running in from the half way, Karl Rees adding the conversion. Robson then nearly added another try when the ball bounced badly after chasing a kick through with the line at his mercy.
Karl Rees slotted over a penalty to reduce the scores to 16 - 15 and most observers sensed a Penallta victory.
Caerphilly however rallied and had the final say with a penalty in the dying minutes leaving Penallta to take home a losing bonus point which could prove crucial in the coming months.
Scorers
Tries: Rees, Robson
Penalties: Rees
Conversions: Rees
Tries: Rees, Robson
Penalties: Rees
Conversions: Rees