MATCH REPORTS
19th 04-08 Seconds 48 v 0 Sully by Paul O'Brien
 29-03-08: Old Penarthians 7 - 66 St. Peters II by Paul O'Brien
29-12-07 St. Peters 16-6 Penarth by Luke Gibson
8-8-07 Treorchy 15-20 St Peters by James Mullane
1-8-07 Gilfach Goch 20-27 St Peters by Luke Gaffney
19th 04-08 Seconds 48 v 0 Sully by Paul O'Brien
St Peters 2nd XV entertained Sully RFC over a cold and blustery Harlequins Ground. This was our last league game of the season (though we may be playing Rhiwbina next week) and we were hoping to keep our 100% league record intact.

There were emotional scenes before kick-off as a guard of honour was formed for Dobbin, playing in his 10,000th game. Emotion was quickly put aside as the game started with the Rocks playing the entertaining style of rugby which has been their trademark all season. Tries followed for Nicky Murphy & Andy Bradshaw with Matthew Khan adding a conversion and a penalty. The half time tally should have been more but Paul O'Brien and Nicky Kelly had tries cruelly disallowed by the referee.

The second half saw the Rocks have the wind on their backs. Half backs James Pearce and Phil Martin used these conditions to ping Sully deep into their twenty two. It was only a matter of time before more tries were scored and soon the floodgates opened. Donkey, Tom Nolan, Phil Martin, James Pearce & Matthew Khan all crossed the line, with Phil Martin adding some excellent conversions. Full time came as a relief to Sully but credit must be given to their resilience.

O'B's Man of the Match- Ducky. The rangy 2nd row was strong at the set pieces and offered targets in open play. Surely it cant be long before a first team call up!!!

As last Saturday was probably the Seconds last game of the season, on behalf of the team I'd like to offer our thanks and gratitude to the trio of Mikey Thomas, Crusher & Dobbin. They put a lot of hard work in to just getting us out on the pitch on a Saturday, and without them we would not have had the season we've had. I have forwarded their CV's to the British Lions management, and fully expect them to get the jobs down in South Africa.
Match Report by
Paul O'Brien
29th March 2008: Old Penarthians 7 - 66 St. Peters II
St Peter's 2nd XV travelled to Old Penarthians hoping to keep their 100% league intact. The pack was bolstered by the return of 63 year old Mike Baldwin. Also keen to make an impact was Mathew Davies after a lengthy period out courting his new girlfriend. Conditions were not perfect with a strong wind and squally showers.
 
St Peters made the most of the wind advantage in the First Half with the mercurial James Mullane controlling the game form outside half, and skipper Paul McCarthy galvanising the pack. Tries followed for Gareth Norman, Alex Macintyre, Danny Murphy, Nicky Kelly, Mathew Davies & Paul O'Brien, to give the Rocks a 47-0 half time lead.
 
The second half could not live up to the first half standard. Disappointingly the team allowed The Old Pens over for a consolation try before Vivian Ress grapped a hatrick of tries in the latter stages, making the final score 66-7.  It was an all round good performance and hopefully the 14 match unbeaten run can continue until the end of the season.
Match Report by
Paul O'Brien

St. Peters 16-6 Penarth
6th placed Penarth travelled to 2nd placed St Peter's in a game hoping to restore their promotion bid, but in a close contest in wet conditions the rocks surely ended the seasiders hopes of promotion by denying them a bonus point, in a 16-6 victory. St Peter's playing against the elements in the 1st half went behind through an early penalty,before outside half Neil Parsons levelled scores. Penarth had the better of the early exchanges and St peter's were thankful of great work at the breakdown through flankers Rhys Andrews and Luke Reardon who often turned defence into attack. Penarth then scored penalty before some excellent handling put wing Owen Broad in a bit of space before beating his man to run in a 40 metre try. As the match continued St Peter's started to gain an edge in possesion forcing Penarth to kick deep. Although this often worked in St Peter's favour with excellent work in the lineouts by 2nd rows Matthew Davies and Chris Barry and some brilliant counter attacking by full back Sean O'brien. St peters 2nd score came after a period of sustained pressure from a catch and drive with, hooker Luke Gibson  who has a habit of scoring in close games claming the vital try. In the 2nd half Penarth showed character and were forced to run into the wind although never looking like scoring. St Peter's showed their strength in depth. With sub's Olly Hughes, Jaime Churcher, Owen Evans and Luke Powell making telling contributions. Fly half Neil Parsons  Slotted a drop goal over to deny the visitors a losing bonus point Although a good win based on lots of effort, surely bad decisions cost the rocks a bonus point  
Match Report by
Luke Gibson

Treorchy 15-20 St Peters
St Peters began the day with a good a warm up and were given their directions for the next 80 minutes. The idea was to run the ball wide due to fact that the pitch in Treorchy is very wide, however this did not happen. 

A keen first ten minutes from the Rocks pack led to several penalty opportunities for fly half Parsons to nod his team in front, unfortunately it was not his day and all though he played well with ball in hand the 8 kicks that were missed would have put his team out of touching distance. The first half mainly was held on St Peters own line, both forwards and backs tackled with passion, however the Zebras looked quite menacing when picking up ball from the ruck and almost catching their opponents on the back foot on a number of occasions.

The first half whistle blew and the scores were close(don’t remember), it was bollocking time, it was time for all 15 to step up a gear and start to improve, not only in attack but also in defence. From the restart the Rocks looked to have a new zest for the game, Ben Davies was throwing himself at everything that moved causing the Zebras back and forwards a large head ache. 10 minutes into the half Sean Obrian started an electric run from his own half, a couple of passes later he finished a try off in the corner worthy of the BA BAhs, unfortunately the ref did not award the obvious try, this led to several players and staff showing their disapproval. Had that try been allowed the game would of probably been out of reach for the home team, however they were still in the running thanks to the ref. The game trudged with neither team being able to get a serious hold territorially or any element of any decent possession. the minutes ticked by and St Peters almost seemed to be going through the motions at times, the game was then turned on its head. Second row Bear had one of the brightest idea he has in a while, almost in slow motion he collected the ball to attempt a quick tap 22 drop, unfortunately for Bear he is not the drop out specialist he once was in his under 10s days, he stupidly fumbled the ball, knocked it on and at the same time let out an awe inspiring "noooooooooooo". He verbalised what the rest of the team were thinking. The ref awarded a scrum to the home team and Bear rightly kept his bald head down for the rest of the game.

Then from out of nothing the mercurial winger Obrian scores in the corner after handing off a prop or two to go over in the corner. His running battle with the crowd seemed to be going his way, but there was more to come. With the scores at 15 -15, St Peters are camped in the Treorchy 22, but the home teams defence is excellent, stopping wave after wave of attack from the visitors. Scott Obrian, who had a very good game apart for little tantrum made way for the robust Jamie Churcher. After a succession of  St Peters scrums close to the Zebras try line a move is called to go blind, the ball is eventually picked up by Churcher who draws 9 and 11 for Obrian to go over in the corner for the winning try, “stick that in your $£%^&^$ paper” was what he shouted at the Treorchy fans who had been ribbing him all day. St Peters gain their second consecutive away win and should be somewhere near the top of the league. Great start to the season.

Not a very enjoyable game to watch or play in, man of the match has to go to Sean Obrian for his 2 (3) tries, come and collect your bottle of bubbly you weirdo. The old Illts will be tougher at home, mark my words.!!!

Match Report
By
James Mullane
Gilfach Goch 20 – 27 St. Peters
We made our way up the valleys for the first game of the season, taking in a few scenes & local landmarks on the way!  We arrived ready for “WAR” a quote from the book of captain Luke “Stigzy” Riordan, Gilfach Goch being our first target. We looked the part for a change in our new strip kindly donated by the dynamic duo of Mr James Mullane and Paul McCarthy AKA Jimmy Ray and Macca, Cheers guys, Ay Oh…
The game kicked off with some furious pace St.Peters finding themselves with some good clear ball from the forwards to let the Rocks big back line to run at Gilfach. Some great line out jumping from Matthew Davies (The Bear) & Kris Barry (blup, blup, Bagzy) enabled us to take line out against the head with O.B Snr Rob making some good hard yards. Quick ball to Fly half Ginger who then put Centre Luke Gaffney (Bombhead) through on a slick angle to go over for the first try of the season, which was converted by Ginger. The game continued to go the rocks way with some superb play from the forwards led by the back row& as usual Rhys Andrews (Chezzers) was at the bottom of every ruck & maul doing what he does best, being annoying mainly, and turning loads of ball! A few good breaks from the Tank that is Ben Davies and it was soon T-R-Y time again as speedster winger John Patterson went over in the corner, followed by a sweet as a nut conversion from the Ginger Ninja. A penalty from ginger took the score to 17-0.
A bit of a bad spell followed for the rocks which saw a penalty and a converted try from Gilfach, who seemed to have there heads up taking the score going into half time 17-10. The beginning of the second half started off pretty much how the first ended with a breakaway try from nippy Gilfach scrum half to take the score level at 17-17 just after the interval. The game remained pretty level pegged until some cowardly play from Gilfach prop saw Flanker Rhys Andrews hit from behind resulting in a fractured jaw & nose & stitches in his lip, keeping him on the sidelines for 6-8 weeks just in time to welcome him back with open arms to the Harlequins & too practice his John Merrick (Elephant man) impressions, as he seems to resemble him a bit at the mo!
This seemed to psyche up the St.Peters pack & was shortly followed with a charge down & try from second row Bear converted again by Ginger taking the score to 27-17 with about 20 minutes to go, both teams then swapped penalty’s leaving the final score 27-20 for a well earned away win for the Rocks, taking nothing away from Gilfach who “Fought” on till the end! The Rocks now head up to Treorchy in search of their 2nd away win of the season.

Match Report
By
Luke Gaffney AKA “Bombhead”