Gilfach Goch v Rumney 26.11.2011

 

SWALEC League Division 1 East

GILFACH GOCH v RUMNEY

The Welfare Park, Gilfach Goch
Saturday 26th November 2011, k.o. 2.30 pm

  
Gilfach Goch v Rumney 11.09.2010
Past playing record : played 3, Gilfach Goch 1 win, Rumney 1 win, 1 draw

Rumney : 15.Dan Millward  14.Gareth Stoppani  13.Paul Niblett  12.Luke Fear  11.Joe Offside  10.Danny Clark (Capt)  9.Chris Milton   8.Michael Kelly  7.Simon Barry  6.Matthew Way  5.Michael Neale  4.Joe Mills  3.Jamie Pincott  2.Colin O'Donoghue  1.John Leadbeatter
Replacements : 16.Ryan Fenton 17.Paul Bull  18.Nathan Bridson  19.Michael Feneck  20.Jimmy Morgan

Gilfach Goch : 15.Ian Davies  14.Kayne Hendrickson  13.Ryan Evans  12.Shaun Roberts  11.Adam Wray  10.Gareth Walters  9.Josh Hughes   8.James Locke  7.Lee Purnell  6.Andrew Williams  5.Damien Adams  4.Scott Purnell  3.Michael Hughes  2.Josh Clark  1.Dan Matthews
Replacements : 16.Matthew Parker 17.Ashley Copic  18.Carl Townsend  19.Liam Trew  20.Adam Mings

Referee : Colin Kirkhouse, Birchgrove, Swansea

Gilfach Goch 30   Rumney 6

Scorer for Rumney : Danny Clark 2 penalties

Scorers for Gilfach Goch  : Shaun Roberts 2 tries, James Locke try, Ian Davies 3 penalties and 3 conversions

Non stop rain and strong cross field winds persisted throughout the whole game and both sides battled hard for the full eighty minutes, but Gilfach Goch adapted best to the conditions and ran out winners by a substantial margin. Rumney promised much in the opening period, flanker Matthew Way defying the conditions to win usable lineout ball, No8 Michael Kelly driving hard off the back of the scrums, and hooker Colin O'Donoghue and second row Mike Neale also gaining ground with determined drives. The early handling movements were also surprisingly good, Gilfach half backs Josh Hughes and Gareth Walters willing to spread the ball, and Rumney centre Paul Niblett coming close to scoring with a chip and chase and visiting scrum half Chris Milton in his element darting and breaking over the soddden playing surface. The Gilfach front row of Dan Matthews, Josh Clark and Michael Hughes locked horns with Rumney's John Leadbeatter, O'Donoghue and Jamie Pincott in a contest which was one of the highlights of the match, both packs refusing to give an inch and fully committed in the loose and at the contact area, but the conditions underfoot led to errors, so scrums were frequent, followed by speculative kicks and chases. Joe Mills put in another towering performance for the visitors, he and Kelly running strongly and straight down the field, and in defence, wingers Gareth Stoppani and Joe Offside and fullback Dan Millward were more than up to the job of covering back and blocking attacks, but Rumney found themselves giving away penalties, the fifth of which presented home fullback Ian Davies with the chance to land the kick from forty metres out and open his side's account in the twentieth minute. Milton supplied Danny Clark with quick accurate ball which allowed the Rumney outside half to make breaks and kick for position in order to take his side away from threatening situations, O'Donoghue and wing forward Simon Barry tirelessly putting in tackles to keep Gilfach from getting close to the try line, but in the twenty seventh minute an attempted penalty by Davies drfifted wide and appeared to have been cleared, but Gilfach centre Shaun Roberts gathered the ball thirty metres out and made a deceptive sidestepping run past five tacklers to sprint in at the posts, Davies' successful conversion taking the score to 10-0. More enthusisatic bursts by O'Donoghue and Neale took Rumney into the home half, and with the set scrums still going well, Pincott on his debut fitting in and working hard at tight head, referee Colin Kirkhouse decided that the Gilfach front row had popped up and he awarded a penalty, which Clark put over to peg back the score to 10-3. Four minutes later however, in the thirty sixth minute, Rumney gave away a penalty for holding on and Davies restored the lead to 13-3 and the half finished with the Gilfach half backs trying out attacking variations and chips to the corners, but finding Millward and the visiting threequarters anticipating the kicks and making them safe.

 

Conditions in the second half deteriorated further and many set pieces became lotteries with the players' feet slipping from under them and balls being spilled. Michael Feneck came on at hooker for Rumney with O'Donoghue  moving to prop and in the forty sixth minute Clark landed a long range penalty following a scrummaging offence. Both sides still tried to run the ball though it frequently slipped from players' hands, but when Milton snapped a pass to Stoppani, the winger set off on an outstanding break to take play to the Gilfach line but the recycled ball went astray and the visitors' best chance of scoring a try disappeared in the mud. Rumney centres Luke Fear and Niblett, Stoppani and Barry continued to work hard in midfield looking for chances to cut through the Gilfach defences and tackled vigorously when their opposite numbers targetted gaps. Gilfach looked to their No8 James Locke to provide a steadying focus and Locke did particularly well in securing difficult possession at the base of scrums and gaining hard yards, and in the fifty fifth minute he fed Hughes, whose neat chip took play to the Rumney five metre line, where the visitors were caught offside under pressure and Davies added the three points for a 16-6 lead. Another period of Gilfach pressure followed with a series of scrums in the Rumney half and when Mills went down and was judged to have killed the ball, he received a yellow card. The home side took advantage of their superiority in numbers and the power of second rows Scott Purnell and Damien Adams, opting for a scrum which enabled them to organise a powerful forward push, Locke carefully controlling the ball until he was ready to ground it for the try. Davies converted for a 23-6 lead and with fifteen minutes remaining Rumney made changes, bringing on Ryan Fenton, Paul Bull and Nathan Bridson in the back row and Jimmy Morgan at scrum half. Although they remained under pressure the visitors made powerful attempts to counterattack, Leadbeatter disrupting and winning ball, Neale battering forward and Clark kicking accurately for position in the unpredictable wind. Way and Fenton covered well when Gilfach attacked from set pieces and Bull and Bridson put in important tackles, but in the seventy fifth minute, what appeared to be a successful clearance kick was snapped up on the twenty two by Roberts, who repeated his earlier star turn and jinked past despairing tacklers to go all the way and score his second try. Davies' conversion gave Gilfach Goch the spoils at 30-6 and the players soon gratefully headed for the changing rooms at the end of a challenging and intense eighty minutes.

Matt Silva, Coach Rumney 1st XV : "For those who were not present at this game, I can only describe it as a mud bath, the conditions were some of the worst that I have seen a game of rugby played in. I was quite pleased to go in at half time with a narrow scoreline in Gilfach's favour and felt that if we played within our structures and stuck to our game plan, we could have won, but sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition when you are outplayed. They served up a powerful performance, especially upfront where we suffered our first pushover try in three seasons. It is not very often that you see a side relieved to hear the final whistle. Joe Mills matched up their big, heavy forwards and on such a difficult day for backs, Joe Offside was outstanding and just shaved it for Man of the Match."

   
Above, left : Matt Silva

Click here to see all the tries from this game and add your comments