Matchday Report Vs Penallta.
Report by Gareth Morgan. ⚫🔵
WRU Championship East
Penallta RFC v Llanharan RFC – Match Report
Saturday 10th October 2026.
Another Saturday, and another away trip, for Bill Carey’s Dairymen.  The head coach named a starting fifteen which saw ten changes from the side which started last Saturday, away at Blaina. Penallta, had only lost once in the league this season, prior to welcoming Llanharan, and that was narrowly away to Bridgend Athletic, so they had every reason for confidence in looking to derail their as yet unbeaten opponents. The visitors would be looking for a less tense affair, having had to rely on last minute heroics for their last two victories. It was the visitors who started the stronger, in the autumnal Ystrad Mynach sunshine, attacking from the outset. After five minutes, all action hooker Jack Walker had worked his way over, following a trademark lineout move, first blood to the Dairymen. Scott Jones was uncharacteristically off target with the conversion attempt, so the lead was worth five points.Â
The home team, having conceded an early lead, regrouped, and enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory for the next twenty-five minutes. However, not for the first time this season, Llanharan proved to be resolute in defence. Centres Brooks and Conquer, and the back row of Malone, Gregory and inspirational captain Ieuan Pring, who made his 100th senior appearance in black and blue appeared to particularly revel in the opportunity to stop their opponents in their tracks, with some well-timed, and physical tackles. For all their possession and territory in this period, all that the hosts had to show was a converted penalty, which reduced Llanharan’s advantage to two points. The last ten minutes of the first half saw the visitors return to the front foot, with Ryan Griffiths coming off his left wing looking for work and rounding off an excellent move by crossing the try line wide on the right. This time, fullback Scott Jones was back on target with the conversion, to make the score 3-12. Then within the dying moments of the half, the visitors again crossed the Penallta try line, with Jack Brooks running a sublime angle, before a couple of quick passes released his young centre partner Rhys Conquer to cross wide on the left this time. Scott Jones again added the extras, to give the Dairymen a nineteen points to three half time advantage.
The second half started in a similar manner to which the first had ended, with the Dairymen, resplendent in their new black away kit showing all of the attacking intent. Rhys Dauncey was the first to capitalise, crossing after some excellent play by both forwards and backs. With the bonus point secured, Scott Jones kicked the conversion to make the score 3-26. Ten minutes later, another Llanharan penalty, deep in Penallta territory resulted in the tried and tested catch and drive, with Jack Walker grounding the ball for his second try of the afternoon, converted by Scott Jones, 3-33. Five minutes later, things got even better for the Dairymen, as the ball was worked left to right by the backs, promising young centre Rhys Conquer stepped back against the grain, off his right foot, and in doing so, wrong-footed the Penallta defence, allowing him to cross unopposed. Again, fullback Scott Jones was on target to bring up the forty points for the visitors, the score 3-40, with a quarter of an hour to play.
In fairness to Penallta, although the game was now gone, they refused to implode and stuck to their defensive task in the final period. Llanharan wasted a couple of opportunities, and despite being down to fourteen men, after a replacement second row saw yellow, the hosts came close to scoring themselves on a couple of occasions. It was however fitting that Llanharan would have the final say. Winger Sam Alexander is no stranger to finding the try line, and it was then perhaps a little surprising that he was not amongst the scorers at this point. When a ball which appeared to be destined for him, fell short at his feet, with a Penallta defender bearing down on him, and time running out, it looked like things would stay that way. However, with footwork Gareth Bale would be proud of, he delicately chipped the ball over his opposite number before running around him and grounding the ball for Llanharan’s seventh and final try, which went unconverted.  The final whistle saw the Dairymen maintain their early season momentum, with a comprehensive forty-five pint to three victory.
Captain Ieuan Pring was deservedly named player of the match on his one hundredth appearance, however, in truth all twenty players contributed significantly to this victory, and any one of a dozen or more players could have claimed the accolade.
Next week sees the Dairymen return to the Dairy Field to face an Aberdare side which has won two and lost two in the league so far this season, and will be looking to build on their home win against Rumney this week.
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