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BP
Llandarcy 6 Ystrad Rhondda 25
Due
to Landarcy having a ground sharing arrangement with their
football side last Saturday's 3rd Round Konica Cup encounter
was played at the home of Neath RFC, The Gnoll, & the
last time Ystrad was mentioned in the same sentence as the
current Welsh club champions was back in the early 1990's
when the Rhondda team played host to no fewer than eleven
Welsh Internationals in a plum draw for the Swalec Cup.
The playing surface at the Gnoll could not have been an
excuse had Ystrad failed to outscore their unbeaten Div
3 West opponents & the Visitors made their intentions
clear early on with a solid lineout take by 2nd row Nathan
Hughes which resulted in a powerful forward surge deep into
the oppsition half & dispite yard gains by both props
Neil Jones & Chris Waygood into midfield Llandarcy's
defence held firm & it was down to outside half Wayne
Jervis to yet again register the first points of the aftrnoon
courtesy of a penalty.
With hooker Carl Facey & 2nd row Hughes providing a
good source of possession Ystrad capitalised on one driving
lineout when awesome No 8 Thomas Hetherington broke off
the driving maul to set up a good attacking position from
which scrum half Ben Daniels distributed quick ball which
allowed Gareth Pugh space to beat his opposite centre &
show his running skills by rounding the full back &
score a try Jervis would convert.
The Ystrad set-piece went well against their bigger opponents
with Captain Chris Hanly at the heart of everything good
about the valley's outfit & young back row trio of Hetherinton,
Neil Walker & Masin al Azawwi outshone their opposite
numbers.
Ystrad continued to pile on the pressure with massive hits
in defence, a notable one when centre Pugh tackled &
drove the Llandarcy tight head back & further Jervis
penalty increased the lead to 13-0 at the end of the 1st
quarter. Even the most fervent of Llandarcy supporter would
have cringed when the referee sin binned flanker Masin Al
Azzawi for ystrad's first ruck infringement, this after
the home Captain was singled out & penalised three times
for misdemeanours.
Llandarcy were gifted another bonus when a midfield mellie
resulted in Ystrad's Neil Jones being ordered to take an
early shower for his part in the fracas & the home team
registered their first points of the afternoon with a penalty,
a further penalty allowed them to go into the break 6-13.
With every Ystrad player having a part to play they dug
deep & showed a good strength of character when reduced
to thirteen men, Gareth Pugh taken off as a precaution with
the imminent Treherbert game in mind & being replaced
by Harry Allen, the youth player quickly rising to the challenge
& the speed of the game.
Many felt the Llandarcy Captain got his reward for constantly
infringing when the match official finally sent him to the
sin bin which allowed Jervis to keep the scoreboard ticking
over with another sweetly sruck penalty.
Ystrad had to introduce John Watkins to pack down on the
loosehead in place of the red carded Neil Jones which meant
lively flanker Masin Al Azzawi had to watch the remainder
& the visitors slowly tightened the screw with more
forward pressure which allowed half backs Ben Daniels &
man of the match Jervis to dictate affairs behind a positive
forward prformance, the latter adding another two penalties
as the game progressed into the last quarter.
Coaches Roberts & Griffiths utilised a strong bench
scrum half Chris Rees, second row's Andrew Carpets &
Greg Booth wing Gerwyn Davies & youth team prop Nathan
James were all given a taste of the action for the last
fifteen minutes.
A further Jervis penalty sealed a 25-6 win with a personal
points haul of 20 for the outside half.
The coaches would not have singled out anyone for special
mention but must have been happy with the performances of
hooker Carl Facey, second row Nathan Hughes & half backs
Daniels & Jervis.
Ystrad's confidence will be sky high following a couple
of commanding displays which will surely stand them in good
stead for their eagerly awaited Christmas league fixture
at home versus Treherbert on 28th December.
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