Llantwit Fardre v Rumney 10.03.05

Rumney : 15.P.Carlton 14.L.Khan 13.P.Niblett (Capt) 12.A.Jones 11.J.Offside 10.A.Carlson  9.L.Miller  1.J.Leadbeater  2.N.Ritchie  3.C.Gale  4.T.Gee 5.M.Kelly 6.R.Sutton 7.R.Fenton 8.S.Coles  Replacements : M.Feneck B.Phillips

Referee : Gerald Davies

Scorers for Rumney : R.Sutton try, P.Carlton try, A.Carlson conversion

Scorers for Llantwit Fardre : M.Humphries 2 tries, C.Thomas try, R.Morgan conversion

There was plenty of open play from the start as the teams tested each other out, for Rumney Terry Gee and Andrew Carlson soon made strong breaks, and Ryan Fenton, Luke Khan, Paul Niblett and Ryan Sutton were immediately testing the opposition, while hooker Neal Ritchie put in hard yards and drove forward effectively. After fifteen minutes it was Sutton who threw an outrageous dummy and scythed through to finish off a sweeping, handling movement with an excellent try, Carlson's successful conversion opening the scoring at 0 - 7. Llantwit came back on the offensive but quality tackles from the Rumney defenders broke down a series of attacks and with scrum half Lee Miller supplying accurate, steady ball, full back Phil Carlton, centres Paul Niblett and Anthony Jones, and wingers Joey Offside and Luke Khan all started to show their paces. No8 Stuart Coles also took on all comers and gained huge amounts of ground with his charging runs, backed up with speedy support from flanker Ryan Fenton and second row Michael Kelly. In the thirty sixth minute Llantwit applied more steady forward pressure and from a five metre scrum, a neat blind side move put flanker Matt Humphries over in the corner to bring the score to 5 - 7, where it remained until the interval.

The home side started the second half with more controlled forward play and very few errors, until in the fiftieth minute scrum half Carl Thomas executed a fine blindside break for a well taken solo try. Now trailing by 10 - 7, Rumney were still ready to run from any position, mobile props John Leadbeater and Charlie Gale passing well and Coles again on the rampage with a devestating touchline break which nearly brought a score, but in the sixty sixth minute Llantwit outside half Michael Thomas followed up his excellent kick with a superb jinking run, releasing Humphries for his second try, scrum half Carl Thomas's conversion increasing the home lead to 17 - 7. Llantwit tightened up the game and spent most of the remaining time in the Rumney half but in the seventy eighth minute Carlton gathered a high kick under his posts and set off on a brilliant run which took him the length of the field for one of the tries of the season, and a final score of 17 - 12.

Steve Ford, Coach Rumney 1st XV : "We knew Llantwit Fardre had a big side. they were organised in the lineout and stole balls from us, and they didn't spread it about much. There was a lack of communication between our forwards and backs but by half time I thought we could win, but it was the same old story and we lost by one score. Because we have not been winning there is a lack of confidence, but the dedication and effort was superb, from one to nineteen the players were great. Getting our full squad together has been a problem since Christmas but we will stay up, all we need is a win, the feeling in the camp is very good, Lee Miller and Andrew Carlson had outstanding games tonight and Phil Carlton was the Man of the Match."