WRU DIVISION 3 EAST CENTRAL A

Gwernyfed 23 Taff's Well 34WATCHING rugby this winter has been a pastime for the hardy but a glorious day saw a large crowd turn out at The Brian Jones Memorial Field for the visit of a side sitting second in the table having beaten the green, white and blacks convincingly in Taff’s Well only three weeks earlier.

With both sides determined to play rugby the first period was rather marred by some indifferent handling and blasts of the refeere’s whistle.

Kickers Gerwyn Williams and Jamie Field had ample opportunity to hone their skills with Williams opening the scoring for Gwernyfed only to trail his opposite number by three successful penalties to four by the time the break was called.

Taff’s Well had looked the more likely to cross the whitewash in the first period but loose passes and poor handling nullified their advantage. However, the second period saw the visitors move up a gear, bringing their speedsters into the game more often.

Full back Chris Tottle had scored at pace down at Taff’s Well and now repeated the display, cutting through a narrow gap in Gwernyfed’s misaligned back division to scorch in from 25 metres. Insult was added to injury a few minutes later when some indifferent tackling in midfield allowed the visitors to make inroads, using the opportunity to good effect with effective offloading by centre Thrasher that allowed his centre partner Ryan Smith to go over.

It would have appeared that the game was over when replacement prop Deri Vaughan took a return pass having thrown in from the line to charge over from five metres.

However, the score and the margin stung Gwernyfed and a series of raids on the Taff’s Well line produced a crop of injuries to the visitors with constant use of stoppage time disrupting the game.

Eventually pressure told with estimable number eight Ben Barrell getting the touch down which owed just as much to his pack where the likes of James Brute, Nicholls boys Aaron and Will and Sam Stephens were always prominent. Williams’s conversion narrowed the margin to eleven points but the real momentum created by a home pack that was becoming increasingly dominant was lost when the visitors called for passive scrummaging, the eleventh time Gwernyfed has suffered that debilitating fate this term.

The game looked to be winding down but a mistake in midfield by the visitors’ defence saw Gareth Dodd steal the ball and with a clear field and forty metres ahead of him looked sure to score.

Full back Tottle, a real speed merchant, did a great job in hauling the Three Cocks veteran in just short of the line but the old fox is wily and popped the ball up to Jack Williams to finish the job, allowing Williams to bring the margin down to four points.

Had proper scrummaging applied throughout the game maybe the finale would have been different but that was not to be. Even the consolation of a bonus point was lost when Ryan Smith completed the scoring for Taff’s Well in a game that they deserved to win, improving their prospects for higher things next term, but also in a game once again devalued by the passive scrum.

Two games to go with the next visitors to The Brian Jones Memorial Field on Wednesday, April 18 when Gwernyfed will look to return to winning ways.