this year we do not have a large squad of players, about 21 active, so if you know anybody who would like to play under 13s rugby bring them along to training at Sue Noakes leisure cente on Tuesdays at 6PM.

19th Sep 10 - Tonbridge Juddians 15 vs 33 Penallta
Report by John Powell

Penallta U13s are on fire.

For our second away game we made the short 3 hour trip to play Tonbridge Juddian's who are the current County Champions for Kent.
We knew this was going to be a tough fixture as they had not lost at home for 5 years. We also played them at Ystrad Mynach last season in a hard fought match with Penallta coming from behind to draw.

Both sides started well and early on you could see the sides were evenly matched. For the second week running Joe Thomas drew first blood with a try from his own half. Joe picked up the ball in the Penallta half sprinted down the wing and then scored under the posts. Tonbridge quickly replied, after some good forward play, Tonbridge spun the ball out to their left wing who scored in the corner. Pat Lewis restored Penallta’s lead when from inside his own half he waltzed through the Tonbridge defence to score under the posts. Tonbridge again replied quickly when one of their forwards drove over the try line. Tonbridge have the best set of forwards we have played against and our pack would have benefited greatly with such a contest. Tonbridge have a big pack, hit the ruck in large numbers and mean business when they clear out. Conan Hathaway converted both Penallta tries and Tonbridge missed both of theirs, resulting in the half time score being Tonbridge 10 Penallta 14.

The second half continued at the same tempo as the first with both sides up for the challenge. From a Penallta scrum a training ground move paid off. Nathan Davies passed the ball to Pat who bulldozed through a couple of tackles and then sprinted up the blind side to score under the posts. Tonbridge again responded and broke through the Penallta defence. A Tonbridge player looked nailed on to score, but instead of diving over the Try line he headed for the posts resulting in Joe Thomas catching him, obtaining the ball and clearing the Penallta lines. The match then became a physical battle, with both sides putting in strong drives and monster tackles of the committed kind. You would never believe both sets of boys are only 12. Tonbridge at this stage had the upper hand and ran in another excellent try. Tonbridge had their tails up, had the momentum and you felt they would go on and win the game. However Penallta had a scrum on the half way line and we were playing English rules where the number 8 is allowed to pick up and carry. For this scrum on the far left, Pat went number 8, picked the ball up passed it to Kieran at outside half who was used as a decoy. Pat then showed his raw power and electrifying pace to receive the return pass off Kieran and leave the Tonbridge defence for dead when he sprinted the width of the pitch going around their left winger and scoring under the posts. Pat only scores under the posts. With time running out Tonbridge kicked the ball to Joe Thomas deep in the Penallta half. Joe kicked into turbo, sprinted down the left wing, with only the Tonbridge right wing to beat, Joe chipped the ball cleverly over the top retained the ball and scored in the corner. The match then finished with both teams out on their feet. Conan Hathaway converted 2 of Penallta’s second half tries and Tonbridge missed their conversion making the full time score Tonbridge 15 Penallta 33.

Penallta’s Man of the Match was Joe Thomas who made several try saving tackles. Joe tackled like a Banshee today and also contributed with 2 tries.

There were two bad injuries today. Tyler Porter broke his finger and was taken to hospital. Also one of the Tonbridge players had a suspected broken collar bone and was also taken to hospital. Everyone at Penallta RFC wishes both boys a speedy recovery.

We would also like to comment on how well run and family orientated Tonbridge RFC is on a Sunday. On a Sunday Tonbridge Rfc dedicate their Rugby club and surrounding pitches to Mini and Junior Rugby. The rugby club is fantastic and is a credit to the local community. Whoever makes the decision to send Penallta Mini & Junior rugby to Maesycwmmer & Ystrad Mynach Sports Centre should go to Tonbridge to see what could be achieved if the playing fields surrounding Penallta rugby club were used in the same way as Tonbridge’s playing fields are. All the playing fields around Tonbridge Rfc are Council owned and are used by Tonbridge Rfc on a Sunday. The rugby club is well run and is packed with families on a Sunday afternoon. Our rugby club is miles behind Tunbridge Rfc when in reality we have the same facilities. We have a rugby club surrounded by loads of playing fields and lessons should be learned. We even have a large children’s park next to our clubhouse. If anyone knows any Ystrad Mynach councillors please complain whole heartedly.

We would like to thank Tonbridge Rfc for their kind hospitality and warm welcome. Hopefully this fixture will become an annual event and we can learn off each other.

The Under 13s are sponsored by Jual Furnishings