WRU Division 4 East Central

WATTSTOWN 50 GWERNYFED  17

Seriously weakened by injury and other absences, Gwernyfed travelled down the A470 for their third consecutive away game. Wattstown always offer a fierce welcome and so it proved as the valiant travellers fought to the least but were simply beaten by a better side.

Things started relatively brightly with ten minutes of attack, albeit not much by way of penetration. Centres Tom Morgan and Will Powell made headway but a strong defence denied any real scoring chances. When The home side eventually moved on to the attack, they were awarded a penalty out wide and, quicker of thought, took full advantage, wily half backs putting the open side flanker over.

An exchange of penalties was all that the scoreboard had to show with the clock ticking down to forty minutes and had Gwernyfed held out, a seven point deficit may have set the scene for a better second period. As it happened, with the green, white and blacks on the attack, the ball was stolen and the influential home side’s fly half released a ranging move that outflanked the defence to add seven points to the lead half-time.

The second period proved to be a tale of woe. The coaching team couldn’t blame any one player, every man jack gave of their all, but bad luck with defenders clashing with each other when going for the ball, poor organisation at the ruck and the loss of a couple of foot chases all offered the Rhondda men opportunities which they gobbled up.

To their credit the Talgarth travellers never gave up and tries by Andrew Norris and Tom Lloyd, two whose efforts deserved to see them on the scoresheet, were turned into seven-pointers to bring the slightest semblance of respectability to what was otherwise a debilitating afternoon.

At long last The Brian Jones Memorial Field in Talgarth sees action next weekend. Llantwit Major will be using the A470 to travel north. Skipper James Brute and coaches David Roberts and James Reynolds will be using the week to rally the troops for what is an important game in halting the early season drift.