WRU Division 4 East

BETTWS (NEWPORT) 5  GWERNYFED 15

Fielding a side affected by work commitments and injury offered a number of youngsters an opportunity to step up to show their wares – and boy, they certainly did so in the face of a big, aggressive, outfit backed up by a vociferous crowd.

The emergence of young players from the Gwernyfed Mini/Junior/Youth conveyor belt underlines the whole ethos of the Talgarth Club. Family names such as Bowen, East, Eckley, Lloyd, Morgan, Rees, Skyrme, Snape and Stephens are now providing their second and third generations of green, white and blacks.

From the start it was clear that the home side would use their bulk to try to intimidate the visitors. Experience in the form of James Brute, Richard East, Lewis Bowen and skipper Sam Stephens inspired the rest of the pack with Will Eckley, Sam Clegg, James Holmes-Powell and hooker Joe Jones cutting down the attackers at every turn.

Within fifteen minutes the hosts began to realise that might and main would not win the day and resorted to the dark arts. That approach offered fly-half Zack Snape the chance to open the scoring with a penalty. That was quickly cancelled out when Bettws did show some enterprise, chipping over the advancing defence allowing the pursuing flanker to touch down for what was to be the home side’s only real sight of the try line.

The rest of the first period had Gwernyfed winning its own set-piece rugby with aplomb, scrum half Luke Eckley and Snape distributing well through the backs. When the ball did go Bettws’s way, any attempt to go wide was snuffed out by great tackling by Ieuan Thomas, Matty Price and centres Lloyd Rees and Tom Morgan. One notable feature throughout was the performance of young full back Callum Ferguson who never shirked a tackle and showed his pace and promise in attack, one more in a series of fine performances.

Failure to stop Gwernyfed’s set piece cost the home side dear as penalties were incurred on a regular basis, Snape potting three more before the break to open up a seven point lead.

The second period started as the first, the home side applying blunderbuss tactics, taking tap penalties all over the pitch only to be cut down by the visitors, now reliably re-inforced by replacements Tom Lloyd, Toby Millington, Ieuan Coles, Kyle Davies and Cori Phillips. At the back Cori Phillips came on, fielding the high ball and making the sort of yardage in attack that, with father great ex-Ebbw Vale prop, Alun, watching proudly on, illustrated the value of continuity and heritage.

It was the much fitter green, white and blacks who dominated the closing stages, Snape extending the lead with another three-pointer. The fly half had a great game, kicking well off tee and out of hand and distributing calmly, but it would be wrong to single out any one of the twenty – every man jack played for their mates and for the badge, making the travelling spectators a proud bunch.

Next weekend’s rest to watch Wales gives way to a local derby in a fortnight, Crickhowell visiting The Brian Jones Memorial Field for the first time in a league fixture. A big crowd and a great occasion awaits...