Dairymen Dominate  - 27/09/2008 - Penallta

SWALEC ONE EAST
LLANHARAN 28 PENALLTA 0 (HT 14-0)
Unavailability caused Dennis John to make several changes in his line up against new boys Penallta and the revamped team showed the strength in depth in his squad, the Dairymen dominating proceedings, a bonus point win taking them to joint top in Swalec One East.
To no small extent their superiority was down to the scrum, the front row of Adrian Ford, Nathan Huish and Nick Kibble regularly shunting Dale Powell’s eight backwards, to the delight of forwards coach Colin Malone.
It allowed home number eight Justin Jones to make early forays into opposition territory, while scrum half Gareth Spain was able to set his backs in motion on the front foot.
But frustratingly Gareth Edwards’ men were unable to translate all their pressure into points, not the least of the reasons being good defence by Penallta. Even Gethin Worgan’s trusty accuracy with the boot deserted him as early penalty attempts sailed wise of the target.
However, on the half hour the inevitable try did arrive. Elliott Frewen cut in from the left wing to initiate yet more pressure and it was impressive second row Nick Eaves who twisted his way over near the posts, this time Worgan making no mistake with the kick.
Even so Llanharan were still finding it difficult to deliver the telling final pass as Huish, Kibble, Sam Studley and Tom Cross all made strong runs.
But just short of half time a second try did come, Ford among several who battered the line before Eaves did the business again to allow Worgan to send them into the interval 14-0 up.
It was the same one way routine after the turn around and in the 50th minute Llanharan scored a good try. Right wing Gary Williams did the damage after profiting from Cross’s long pass, but it was the dynamic Studley who finished off, sheer energy getting him to the line at full stretch.
The kick made it 21-0 and the bonus point came not long after, Huish scoring spectacularly as he took a quick free kick just inside the Penallta half and wove his way through the defensive ranks to touch down, Worgan’s conversion completing the scoring.
To their credit Penallta staged a late rally and were disappointed not to have been awarded a try by Cardiff referee Alan Sheppard who had enjoyed a good afternoon with the whistle.
But the spirit in the Llanharan ranks was also apparent as they fought tooth and nail to stop a Penallta score despite the result being a foregone conclusion.
However they picked up a couple on injuries, the most serious being to prop Ed rees who seemed to have damaged the knee that kept him out of the game for half last season and they will undoubtedly face a sterner test on Saturday when they travel to Virginia Park to meet Caerphilly.
Team 15 Arwel Davies 14 Gary Williams 13 James Harris 12 Ross Pearce 11 Elliot Frewen (Tom Cross 30)10 Gethin Worgan 9 Gareth Spain (Greg Jones 75)
1 Adrian Ford (Ed Rees 60 (N.Huish 75)), 2 Nathan Huish (KevinWorgan 67)
3 Nick Kibble 4 Gareth Edwards (Capt.), 5 Nick Eaves 6 Sam Studley (Craig Beasant 70) 8 Justin Jones 7 Jon Myatt
Llanharan tries – N.Eaves 2, N.Huish, S.Studley. Conversions 4 – G.Worgan.

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