On a miserable day on a sticky pitch, it could have been the case that the hardy spectators at The Brian Jones Memorial Field would have been served up a game full of errors and close-quarter battles. In fact, quite the opposite. Both sides committed to running rugby, handled the muddy ball superbly, and delivered a game to remember.

GWERNYFED 42 - CHEPSTOW 19

Report by Peter Weavers

Given the lightning start that Joe Winfield’s men produced, with the fourth try and bonus point recorded before the half-hour, the Trefecca Road faithful had a cricket score in mind. Chepstow had other ideas, and in the second period besieged Gwernyfed’s line. Lessons learned from the tutelage of Matthew Lewis as defence coach were put into practice, and a couple of second-period tries apiece left the Talgarth men well ahead. Chepstow have provided strong opposition home and away, and the objective onlooker would recognise that the margin of victory was a compliment to Gwernyfed’s ability but something of an unfair reflection of the visitors’ performance.

The green, white, and blacks set the scene from the start, opening up a seven-point lead within two minutes. Full-back Tyler Morris collected a loose ball from a Chepstow clearance from the kick-off. After making ground in his own half, his kick was rewarded with a ’50-22’ line-out. The resultant maul was defended, offering Cellan Skyrme a second throw. Geraint Powell plucked the ball out of a grey sky, and the maul trundled ten metres before breaking down. Number nine Luke Eckley had Powell on his shoulder from ruck ball; his pass found namesake Lloydd Powell, and when the giant number eight is only five metres out, there is only one result. Winfield added the afters.

Supporters had to wait a full five minutes for the second try, but the wait was worthwhile. A scrum on the Chepstow 22 had the two Powell back rowers sucking defenders in before Luke Eckley moved it wide to the right to fly-half Winfield. He crafted a move to the right through Gethin Davies and the Eckley brothers, Will and Luke. Tom Powell drove into a tackle when the move was stopped, and when the ball came back from the ruck, skipper Winfield was involved in the move for the fourth time. The fly-half is ever-aware of holes in the defence and the opportunity to exploit them. On this occasion, a pin-point thirty-metre punt found Geraint Powell loitering on the left wing. The loiter didn’t last, Powell charging past a despairing defence from twenty-five metres out.

The third try was not only an invitation for Winfield to add a conversion that brought up Gwernyfed’s 500th campaign league point, it was a thing of beauty. A line-out in the home side’s half was secured by Will Eckley. Brother Luke and the skipper combined to release inside centre Gethin Davies. Panic ensued as Davies broke tackles and made forty metres before offloading to Dylan Skyrme. Skyrme quickly transferred to Ryan Davies, who skipped past a defence that couldn’t lay a finger on him to go under the posts and serve up the 500th point on a plate for Winfield.

It was a reprise for Davies when, from a scrum 35 metres out, Joe Winfield popped the ball inside to Davies coming in off his wing. Once again, the speedster evaded a host of defenders, going over from thirty metres out without a Chepstow man laying a finger upon him. Winfield’s conversion was a formality, and the bonus point was in the bag.

It had taken thirty minutes for Chepstow to launch any serious challenge to the Gwernyfed defence, but the home side were swift to realise that they had a game on their hands. The visiting back row began to make their mark, battering away in the twenty-two against a resilient defence in which Tom Lloyd, Will Pugh, and Craig Parry were prominent. Progress was measured in feet rather than yards, but as the half-time break beckoned, the dam was breached by way of a series of rucks, the eventual try touched down under the posts to make it a seven-pointer.

Chepstow started the second period as they had finished the first, and whilst their attacks were matched by Gwernyfed sorties, too often the latter were interrupted by penalties for holding on. From one of these, a speculative punt down the left bounced badly for Gwernyfed, the visiting left wing taking full advantage, the conversion reducing the lead to fourteen points.

On the hour, normal service was resumed when, after an expansive move down the left courtesy of the three-quarters was halted, the resultant rucks saw Will Eckley, Geraint Powell, and Ryan Davies stopped short, at which point Luke Eckley introduced guile, feinting before plunging over in spite of intense attention.

The final twenty minutes inevitably had players tiring, with maul, ruck, and scrum moving centre stage. The arrival of replacements Kyle Davies, Dan Stroud, recent transferee from Seven Sisters, and Prys Eckley had Gwernyfed on the front foot, but the only scores in the final quarter owed everything to grunt. Chepstow touched down after a lengthy series of rucks in the home side’s 22, Gwernyfed replying immediately when Geraint Powell got the final touch as a maul trundled twenty metres to the line. Joe Winfield completed yet another afternoon of impeccable place-kicking with the conversion.

With the senior side now closing in on promotion, attention is shared with the Athletic XV in the hope that they can secure a repeat appearance in the Dragons Finals. With top side Bedwas Athletic visiting, a close game was expected and no one was disappointed, the visitors winning 7-5; a Harry Ratcliffe try not quite enough to affect league placings.

On Sunday morning, a full slate of Gwernyfed mini and junior sides took on their counterparts from Brecon RFC, and a highly enjoyable and successful weekend’s rugby for Gwernyfed was brought to a close by the Women’s XV, who entertained Ynysybwl Ladies. The first period was scoreless, with Gwernyfed’s defence performing brilliantly. Their reward came in the second period when tries from Poppy Thompson and Bronnie Jones delivered a 10-7 victory.