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15 January 2017 / Team News

Lost in Pontardawe

It took some time to find a team but we got there with just a bare fifteen and faithful stalwart Steve Davies as our lone sub. It took some time to find the ground and it took even longer to find the club but we got there. Sadly we did not win but we did give a really good performance, had 2 tries disallowed and conceded a dubious penalty try but ultimately had to admit Pontardawe deserved their win. For several seasons now Rugby has become a game for 20 players not 15 or 16. Pontardawe used their full bench effectively to close out the game in the last 20 minutes.

The brave Rhigos team was:-

Duane Dudley, James Tobin, Darren Magee, Josh Richards, Glenn Raynes, David Williams (Capt), Chris Harris, Dan Williams, Shaun Simons, Gareth Davies, Dylan Parks, Ryan Williams, Jon Smith, Lewis Morgan, Ryan Watkins with Steve Davies on the bench.

The game started brightly for us and after good pressure Ryan Watkins slotted a 25 yard penalty before Pontardawe replied with one of their own and the score remained 3-3 until half time. In that first half despite atrocious conditions on a very heavy field we played some good enterprising rugby lead by our centres Shaggy and Jonny. Gareth too was prepared to attack from anywhere and as a result we moved the much bigger heavier Pontardawe pack all around the field and had the better of them. But we just could not score - Pontardawe defended really well and we fumbled 2 chances and had a try disllowed. Nevertheless at half time it was still 3 to 3.

Then immediately after half time Pontardawe hit a 10 minute purple patch with a try from close range from a driving lineout and a converted penalty try from a scrum 5 metres. After that it was a real uphill battle but we kept on persevering. It was obvious we were tiring in the mud - all our pack covered from head to toe in mud. On came 5 sub forwards for Ponty and even our supporters all 10 of them groaned. Ponty scored their third try again from a series of short mauls following lineouts. We got more and more tired but never gave up. Steve came on for Darren. We forced our way up to their line and Shaun scored but the referee was unsighted and had blown to award us a penalty. Small margins.

After the game everyone was absolutely drained. We had given a good performance but did not quite get the result despite some excellent performances from Dan Williams, Lewis Morgan, Gareth Davies and the 2 centres Jonny and Shaggy.

Roll on next week when we are home to South Gower with hopefully a full squad.

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