Penallta RFC

A glorious Sunday morning for taking the short trip to Bridgend to play the first 15 a side match for the young Pitmen.

Having never played in this format before a quick training session and introduction to new positions for a number of players and we were ready for the off. From the start it was evident that the Bridgend team had played 15s before and they were the dominant team for the first quarter with the Penallta team taking a little time to settle.

Both teams were lacking in the attack but this could have been due to the defensive line, tackles were hard and there was no space given for the backs of either team to break loose.

After 15 minutes the Penallta team started to get things together and were applying pressure but were kept out by some great defending by the Bridgend team. It was now a game of attack and defence; the Penallta team would move forward and get close but then lose the ball and then start all again after the Bridgend team hoofed the ball down field. The half came with neither team getting across the line.

Half time 0 v 0

The second half started with Bridgend kicking off and the Penallta team charging straight back up field and carrying on where they finished the first half.

First Tyler Porter crossed the line to be told he had not grounded the ball to be followed minutes later by Sam hunt who had the same result. It looked like things weren’t going the way of the Pitmen and then the backs moved the ball quickly to Joe Thomas who sprinted for the corner, just getting the ball to ground for the first try before being bundled into touch.

That seemed to galvanise the Bridgend team who came back at the young Penallta team and were only kept out by some great defensive tackling by both the forwards and backs. And that was that, both teams had run themselves into the ground and when the final whistle came it was a relief to both teams.

Thursday at Trinity Fields is the next venue for the under 11s team who have now won 17 games in a row for a special challenge match against the under 12s team.

They have one more fixture left this year, next Sunday away against St Josephs in Newport, can they make it 18 wins in a row? Only time will tell and of course the blue army of little people who turn out and train twice a week to play on a Sunday. Not for money but for the pride of wearing the badge on their shirts, and of course they love the new showers!

Final Score: Brifgend Young Stars under 11s 0 V Penallta under 11s 5

Try scorer Joe Thomas

... Bill Hunt

Images from the match