Asda League Division 2 East
Nantymoel RFC
Thursday 3rd May 2007, k.o. 6.30 pm

Nantymoel v Rumney 01.10.2005

Previous results
01.10.05   Nantymoel 24 Rumney 17
11.02.06  Rumney 29 Nantymoel 17 
18.11.06  Rumney 33  Nantymoel 06 

Rumney : 15.A.Carlson 14.L.Fox 13.B.Phillips 12.J.Offside 11.A.Leech 10.A.Solomon  9.B.Morris 1.J.Leadbeatter  2.N.Ritchie  3.C.Gale  4.A.McCormack   5.T.Gee  6.R.Sutton 7.M.Way  8.E.James  Replacements : K.O'Connor D.Clements S.Hill D.Turner

Referee : David Jones

Nantymoel 29   Rumney 19

Scorers for Rumney : penalty try, L.Fox try, J.Offside try, A.Solomon 2 conversions

Scorer for Nantymoel : G.Morgan try, T.Smith try, K.James 2 tries, I.Rees 3 conversions, M.Titley drop goal

After an initial period of heavy Rumney pressure Nantymoel ran the ball out of their own half, won a scrum against the head, and took a quick penalty to set off a threequarter movement which saw home full back Graham Morgan take advantage of huge gaps in the defence to score the opening try. Centre Ian Rees added the conversion to give Nantymoel a 7 - 0 lead after ten minutes. The sides were evenly matched but in the twenty fifth minute Rumney centre Barry Phillips made a devestating break upfield, leading to a lineout on the home twenty two which flanker Ryan Sutton controlled to set up a strong forward drive and when Nantymoel brought down the maul Mr Jones decided that a penalty try was in order. Anthony Solomon added the two points for the visitors and another period of open rugby followed, both sides showing their willingness to spin the ball and dangerous attacks by Nantymoel being stopped through strong tackling from Rumney winger Andrew Leech, prop John Leadbeatter and fullback Andrew Carlson. In the thirty second minute Nantymoel worked their way into Rumney territory and sparked a handling movement which included a neat loop by outside half Mark Titley, and was finished off with a corner try by right wing Tony Smith. Four minutes later Rumney centre Lewis Fox gathered a loose clearance kick inside his own half and set off on a remarkable fifty metre run, evading eight tacklers and scoring an astonishing try which tied the teams 12 - 12 at half time.

Nantymoel exerted pressure from the restart and from a five metre scrum carefully controlled their drive until No8 Kevin James touched down, Rees's conversion restoring the lead to 19 - 12. Rumney tightened their grip at forward through good backrow work by Emyr James, Matthew Way and Sutton, effective foraging by second rows Terry Gee and Andy McCormack, and hard grafting by props Charlie Gale and Leadbeatter and hooker Neal Ritchie, but errors and turnovers prevented the visitors from turning possession into points. In the fifty eighth minute Nantymoel won another close range scrum and James again gathered and pounded over for his second try and, with another Rees conversion, a lead of 26 - 12, but Rumney forced their way back into attacking positions and in the seventy fourth minute scrum half Ben Morris put Solomon into space and the fly half flicked a brilliant reverse pass to winger Joey Offside whose excellent support work saw him speed in under the posts for a fine try. With the game drawing to a close the home side had another close range scrum but this time they employed a different tactic, scrum half Jeremy Williams feeding Titley, who duly obliged with a well struck drop goal which gave a final score of Nantymoel 29 Rumney 19 and also brought down the curtain on the 2006 - 2007 season.

Chris Smith, Nantymoel RFC : "Thank you for tonight's fixture - I thought your players were true gentlemen in defeat - a character that shows how good a club really is - congratulations on a fantastic season and good luck in Division 1 next year."

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Try scorers : Graham Morgan (10 minutes), penalty try (25 minutes), Tony Smith (32 minutes), Lewis Fox (36 minutes),
Kevin James (45 minutes), Kevin James (58 minutes), Joey Offside (74 minutes)