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Ystrad
Rhondda 10 Caerphilly 25
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The
early season bad luck took on another meaning on Saturday
as Ystrad prepared to challenge last season’s third
placed Caerphilly & were hit with no fewer than three
of their match-day squad having to drop out through injury
literally an hour prior to kick off.
It is testament however to those who replaced Anthony Shellard
(calf), Liam Phillips (groin) & Zak James (hamstring)
plus the positive attitude of the remaining squad members
that Ystrad really did push Caerphilly all the way at a
sun drenched Gelligaled park.
Lineout forwards Masin Al Azzawi & Nathan Hughes are
proving to be more than a match for opponents in this league
& with the former securing good early ball, refereee
Phil Fear had no option than to penalise the visitors for
persistent offending, which allowed Captain Dylan Jones
to slot over a penalty.
Jones relished the opportunity to start at outside half,
dictating matters in the opening quarter of an hour linking
well with centres Gerwyn Davies & Mathew Hutchings &
also correctly choosing when to pin Caerphilly back in their
own half.
A mistake by Hywel Stoddart when he tackled Carphilly’s
scrum half a couple of yards after taking a quick penalty
saw the number eight receive a yellow card & was one
of a number of silly penalties given away by Ystrad in the
first half which allowed Caerphilly to build momentum &
would ultimately take its toll on the Valley’s team.
Indeed while Stoddart was receiving his ten minute punishment
Caerphilly scored a penalty & a good period of recycling
possession afforded them a try for the half time score to
read 3-8 in favour of the Cheesemen.
The second half saw the re-introduction of Caerphilly’s
blindside, forced off the field with a blood injury when
a ferocious tackle by Masin from the kick off left the number
six seeing stars.
The Ystrad scrum again held firm as it did against Penallta
the previous week, with the Yst front row of Neil Jones,
Thomas Hetherington & Craig Griffiths gradually getting
the upper hand over their opponents which allowed scrum
half Mark Jones to show his class aided by good handling
skills by outside half Jones, centre Hutchings & young
wing Jamie Wicks. A snipe up the blind side by scrum half
Jones from his own half set up his team deep in Caerphilly
territory, good ball retention where flanker Tom Hocking,
Stoddart & Nathan Hughes were to the fore allowed Dylan
to send Masin into midfield, a half break by the rangey
second row & clever offload enabled number eight Stoddart
to stretch over for a try. A Dylan Jones conversion sneaked
Ystrad into a 10-8 lead just before the outside half had
to leave the field with a recurring hamstring problem.
His place was filled by centre Mathew Hutchings who played
on dual from Pontypridd & demonstrated a coolness with
good handling & several precise kicks to the corners.
Caerphilly’s coaches were overheard giving their pre
match team-talk where they outlined the fact they expected
to inflict a hammering on this Ystrad team, even though
Ystrad fell behind to a well worked wide move which resulted
in a try for them to edge into the lead 13-10, Ystrad were
far from happy at the ref’s decision not to award
a penalty in front of the posts when a break from the base
of the scrum by hooker switched to number eight Hetherington
who gained twenty yards & good hands showed by Hocking,
Masin & centre Gerwyn Davies enabled a quick Ystrad
ruck five yards out with Caerphilly blatantly offside in
midfield which went unoticed by the man in charge. As is
often the case Caerphilly snuffed out the attack & proceeded
to charge up the other end to score a crucial converted
try.
A try in the last couple of minutes sealed a bonus point
win for the cheesemen but Ystrad should take heart from
a game they showed a tremendous amount of character &
spirit & it was a positive gesture of the Caerphilly
coaches to relay to the Ystrad side that this was their
hardest game to date.
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