Fixture

On a beautiful autumnal day, Mount travelled down to the seasider’s illustrious ground steeped in rugby history. The Penarth team, warming up as the Young Firm arrived, looked a big, well-drilled unit, which indeed they were.

Penarth kicked off only for Mount to spill the ball, and for the next 15 minutes Penarth attacked and attacked. The Young Firm’s defence was equal to the task and eventually Mount got hold of the ball and with young backrow forward Ryan Jenkins again making plenty of ground, Penarth had no answer to his bulldozing runs.

After some good interpassing between Ryan, his brother Owen, and the giant Kieran Coomers, Mount took the ball down to Penarth’s line. The ball was recycled and Darren Howe went over for the first try for a 5-0 lead, which was against the run of play.

Mount regathered the ball from the kick off and another break from Ryan Jenkins saw him make 30 metres, side-stepping through player after player and offloading to midfield player Ethan Conway to score under the posts. Centre Jarrod Cushion converted to make it 12-0. Penarth, to their credit, came straight back, and made the most of poor Mount tackling to score in the corner. The conversion made it 12-7. The game then swung back and fore with both sides having plenty of ball but both defences stood firm until half time.

The start of the second half saw Penarth throw everything at Mount and getting plenty of joy out wide, with their giant winger causing the Young Firm havoc. Eventually they scored in the corner to bring the score to 12-12. Mount now looked dead and buried and Penarth continued to attack. The Penarth threequarters threw the ball out but centre Jarrod Cushion intercepted and run 40 metres to score under the posts. The conversion made it 19-12 to Mount.

This seemed to finish Penarth off and the Young Firm took control and should have scored two more tries, but the ball was spilled twice on Penarth’s line. This seemed to revitalise Penarth and once again they came back. Making plenty of ground through their big winger, it looked as if they were going to score in the corner to draw the game but a last gasp tackle by captain Morgan Cartwright saved the game.

With time running out, another Penarth break and a chip into the Mount 22 gave them a last-gasp penalty 15 metres out. With Mount down to 14 men due to a yellow card, Penarth chose a scrum. The home scrum half passed the ball out, only for the outside half to drop the ball which Ethan Conway kicked on. Centre Jarrod Cushion kneed it on, then kicked it on, gathered the ball, and scored a dramatic try under post to clinch a superb win for the Young Firm. Morgan Cartwright converted to make the final score 24-12 to the Young Firm which keeps them challenging at the top of the Blues Premier division.

This Saturday, 27 October, Mount travel to Ystrad Rhondda in the 1^st Round of the Welsh Youth Cup, kick off 2:30pm.