WRU Division 4 East

GWERNYFED ATHLETIC 44 NHSOB EXPENDABLES 21

Gwernyfed Athletic welcomed Newport High School Old Boys’s second team, known as the NHSOB Expendables, to a Dragons League Fixture at Trefecca Road on Saturday, with the home team chalking up a 44-21 win. To the credit of the visitors, they arrived with only 13 players to fulfil the fixture, rather than cancelling the game, with Gwernyfed loaning them a couple of players from their 23 man squad.

The first half hour saw a keenly contested match between the experienced visitors and Gwernyfed’s more youthful contingent, the visitors taking an early lead with a converted try. However, with the Expendables struggling to deal with the Gwernyfed packs’s well organised driving maul, half time was reached with a score of 20 points to seven, following four unconverted Gwernyfed tries providing a bonus point. Number eight Lloyd Powell, returning from a long period of injury, was, in particular, proving a handful for the visitors with his rampaging runs.

Three further Gwernyfed tries were scored in the second half, as the home team took firm control of the game, although the visitors rallied a couple of times to score two of their own, including notching up the try of the game. However, as team managers Andrew Torrance and Gethin Evans rang the changes to ensure all squad members had plenty of game time, the Athletic ran out comfortable winners.