Saturday 18th April 2009
Penallta 5 v 20 Caerphilly
(Half Time 0 v 3 )
With Penallta struggling for players this weekend due to injury, holidays & the denial of dual registered player participation, the Caerphilly game was always going to be a struggle. What made it more difficult was that this was the first of 3 ‘must win’ games to avoid relegation back to Division Two. So, the sun shone & yet another changed team ran out for the Pitmen.
The game started brightly enough in front of a sizeable crowd but with both teams making simple errors - the referee’s whistle was kept busy. Caerphilly had the first real scoring opportunity when an overlap was squandered & Penallta were penalised at the resultant breakdown. Cody Rees sent the kick wide of the posts but made amends 3 minutes later with a successful penalty attempt.
With the influential Matthew Tucker yellow carded in front of the posts after 20 minutes, Caerphilly elected to take the scrum instead of a penalty but the Penallta defence held firm and managed to clear their lines. With fullback James Powell injured after being taken out in the air, Caerphilly again pressured the Penallta line & attempted to swing the ball wide. Winger Lee Thomas intercepted a wayward pass in the depths of his own 22 and set off on the long sprint to the Caerphilly line. A lone Cheeseman managed a diving tap tackle that was just enough to knock the sleep-deprived, new father off balance a couple of yards short of the line and the offload went astray after what had looked like a certain score.
With Caerphilly having had the run of play the half time score was just 3 points to nil.
The second half started in much the same vein as the first with innumerable errors & no flow to the game. Rees doubles Caerphilly’s score with another penalty 15 minutes into the half. With Penallta infringing, a quick tap penalty saw James Walby cross for a converted try 5 minutes later.
Penallta rang the changes with some fresh legs in the pack for the final quarter of the game, with young No8 Luke Purnell making his senior team debut. A lovely move amongst the backs was started by winger Thomas for the forwards to power over in the corner to give Huw Stevens a deserved try and to bring the scoreline back to 13 – 5.
Caerphilly hit back almost immediately from a scrum in the Penallta half which saw centre Phillips cross & Ellis convert a few minutes from time. Final score Penallta 5 Caerphilly 20.
The defeat saw Penallta relegated to Division Two after a long, hard season and some spirited performances. The Pitmen have run some of the top teams close this season – with 7 losing bonus points being testament to this – and will consider themselves unlucky not to have achieved a few more “W”s on the fixture list. With the new facilities now in place & many of the youth squad having made promising senior debuts this season, The Pitmen can hold their heads high and look forward to continuing the good brand of rugby we all love.