A LARGE crowd watched this local derby at the Recreation ground, supporters of both clubs hoping to go one better than the 19-19 draw played out in October at Cherry Park.
Pencoed took the lead in the opening minutes with a penalty goal from Gavin Henson. Within minutes, Bryncethin were also on the scoreboard, scrum half Cai Bradley going over at the posts having taken a quick tap penalty a few metres out, outside half Griff Davies converting.
Henson added a second penalty for the home side. For the rest of the half, both teams alternated scoring tries. Pencoed back row forward Rhys Bargery went over after 22 minutes, Henson adding the extras. Bryncethin returned to the attack and a sustained driving maul brought about a penalty try. Almost immediately, Pencoed regained the lead, hooker Zach Taylor crossing the whitewash with Henson converting.
Back came the visitors, Sam Owens scoring wide out with Davies adding a fine conversion to lead 20-21. Approaching the interval, home centre Shane Izatt, in typical fashion, scored under the posts. Henson converted for Pencoed to lead 27-21 at the break.
The opening quarter of the second half saw Henson extend the home lead with two further penalties. Based on a strong scrummaging effort going into the final quarter, Bryncethin asked questions of the home defence and looked likely to score on a number of occasions but a resolute home defence kept their line intact for the remainder of the match to record a hard-fought derby victory.
Rhys Bargery was chosen as the Pencoed player of the match while for Bryncethin, the pace of centre Dan Howells troubled the home side throughout. On Saturday Pencoed entertain Mumbles at the Recreation ground (kick off 2.30pm).
Report: Club president Terry Rees.
Photos by Julie Hancock (https://juliehancock.org)
Pencoed Youth 23 Morriston 0
In this victory, Pencoed hooker Sam Watkins scored two tries, with skipper Iwan Powell getting a try, two penalties and a conversion.
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